Men working in social care in England and Wales are 2.5 times more likely to die from Covid-19 than working-age men as a whole, the Office for National Statistics has found.
The ONS analysis, which also shows women in social care with a mortality rate twice that of working age women generally, will increase pressure on the government over the heavy death toll suffered by care homes.
Suzie Bailey, director of leadership and organisational development at health thinktank the King’s Fund, said: “Hard-working care staff have been on the frontline in this crisis, but have been let down by government promises of support that have not been delivered. It is increasingly clear that social care has been neglected during the pandemic, with disastrous consequences.
“Lessons must be learned. The virus still poses a very real threat and care workers need to be prioritised and protected. Social care must never again be treated as an afterthought to the NHS, but as an equal partner in an interdependent system.”
Ministers have been criticised for failing to ensure social care workers received adequate personal protective equipment (PPE) and for allowing 25,000 elderly residents to be discharged from hospital into care homes before testing became routine.
More than 16,000 people have died from coronavirus in UK care homes, according to the latest official figures – almost a third of all fatalities
The ONS data published on Friday shows that between 9 March and 25 May there were 19.1 deaths per 100,000 men aged 20 to 64 years with Covid-19 compared with 9.7 deaths per 100,000 women.
For men working in social care, which includes care workers and home carers, there was a mortality rate of 50.1 deaths of men with coronavirus per 100,000 (97 deaths) and for women it was 19.1 deaths per 100,000 (171 deaths).
There were 17 occupations found to have a raised death rate for men, including security guards, construction workers, cleaners, taxi drivers, bus drivers, chefs and shop workers. Men working as security guards had the highest rate, with 74.0 deaths with coronavirus per 100,000 (104 deaths). Of these 17 occupations, 11 have statistically significantly higher proportions of workers from black and Asian ethnic backgrounds, the ONS said.
Among women, four occupations had a raised risk of death with coronavirus, including shop workers and plant operatives. Two of the four occupations have statistically significantly higher proportions of workers from black and Asian ethnic backgrounds, according to the ONS.
Among health workers as a group, only men had higher rates of death involving Covid-19 (30.4 deaths per 100,000 men) when compared with the general population. But nurses of both sexes were found to have an increased risk.
Neil Pearce, professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said the ONS figures demonstrated that for people of working age, Covid-19 was “largely an occupational disease”. He said all people in all jobs with an elevated risk should be supplied with appropriate PPE and required to use it, describing it as a workplace health and safety issue for everyone working with the public.
The ONS found 4,761 deaths involving Covid-19 in the working age population were registered between 9 March and 25 May, nearly two-thirds (3,122 deaths) among men, who are known to be at greater risk than women from the virus.
