Covid 19 Part XX-26,644 in ROI (1,772 deaths) 6,064 in NI (556 deaths) (08/08)Read OP

Rob A. Bank wrote: »

Where did this often repeated BS about supermarkets being 'safe' come from ?

Deaths in shop workers up to 75% higher than rest of country

"Sales assistants are significantly more likely to die from coronavirus, Matt Hancock told MPs today as he confirmed face masks would become mandatory in shops and supermarkets.

The Health Secretary said the Covid-19 death rate among male shop workers is 75% higher than the general population, and 60% higher in women, underlining the urgent need for face coverings in public to protect the spread of coronavirus."

podgeandrodge wrote: »

Certainly conversations have been around supermarkets specifically, which were open throughout the pandemic, compared to most retail which may involve being indoor for longer and closed environments like shopping centres. Most people going to the supermarket are not there for that long and able to distance for the short period. In addition, the UK, in relation to the above, has quoted background, ethnicity and other factors as perhaps being a factor in the higher %s.

Have you data on cases of Irish supermarket staff dying at a higher rate than other Irish people in this pandemic?

I see that the following was issued by supermarkets this week - perhaps it is 75% greater than most, I don't know:

"Dr Ronan Glynn warned on Monday about cluster outbreaks in a number of settings including supermarkets.

One Tesco Ireland worker is currently off work and recovering from coronavirus amid the Government warning of supermarket outbreaks.

The shopping giant said that out of their 13,000 workers a "small few" have tested positive since the disease reached Ireland.

Fellow supermarket giants Lidl and Aldi currently have no workers off sick as a result of Covid-19.

Since March, 12 of Aldi's 4,000 strong staff have been hit with the disease but all have since recovered and returned to work.

Lidl said that no staff member has tested positive in the last eight weeks but did not specify if any were diagnosed before that.

Tesco Ireland told the Irish Mirror that all their staff received full sick pay if they contracted the disease. A spokesperson said: "Due to the diligence of our colleagues in adhering to the public health guidelines and the measures we have put in place in stores, only small number of our 13,000 colleagues have tested positive for COVID-19 since March.

Aldi also praised their staff for their work in the pandemic so far. A spokesperson said: "12 Aldi store team members from our workforce of over 4,000 have tested positive for Covid-19. Each team member has fully recovered and returned to work.



For the record, I advocate masks in confined spaces for periods of time where it is not possible to socially distance.

Retailers in the UK have accused Hancock of being misleading. And the statistics he quoted also stated that shop workers have higher mortality rate due to workers’ age and socio-economic status.

But don't let that get in the way of pretending that supermarkets are hotbeds of Covid. Even if the figures quoted by Irish supermarkets back up the fact that it's not the case.


It really is no wonder people are cynical when politicians are misleading to further their aims.



Retailers have accused Matt Hancock of using “dangerously misleading” statistics when he said that shop assistants had a 75 per cent higher risk of dying from Covid-19.

As he made the case in parliament yesterday for wearing face masks in shops, the health secretary said that male shop workers were 75 per cent more likely to die and women were 60 per cent more at risk.

Retail bosses quickly hit back, saying that his claims were based on “flaky data”. Steve Rowe, chief executive of Marks & Spencer, said: “M&S figures are substantially below that. We sadly have had three deaths from 126 cases out of 78,000 frontline colleagues, well below the numbers being quoted.”

Alex Baldock, chief executive of Dixons Carphone, said that the electricals retailer had recorded a single death and 13 cases of coronavirus out of 40,000 colleagues and this had not been associated with their time in a store.

A retail source said that the figures were “not true” and that Mr Hancock was being “highly unfair”. Another referred to the numbers as “total b******s”.

The Office for National Statistics figures used by Mr Hancock were based on a survey of 4,671 people, which showed that 58 male and 76 female shop assistants had died at a time when the total death toll was above 36,000. The figures also revealed that shop assistants had a higher mortality rate than other trades in normal times, thought to be due to workers’ age and socio-economic status.


https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/hancock-s-death-statistics-for-shop-staff-misleading-vfqj6pbwl


Meanwhile, a month ago, the same politican was referring to increased death rates of minorities from Covid - which is likely perfectly true. But he didn't give any of that context when making blanket statements today about 75% higher deaths of shop workers.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock has insisted “black lives matter” as he published a new review which found black, Asian and minority ethnic people are at significantly higher risk of dying from Covid-19.

The study, from Public Health England (PHE), looked at the risk factors for coronavirus and found minority individuals have a much higher risk of death than white people, as do those from poorer backgrounds, men and anyone who is obese or suffering from diabetes.



Mr Hancock told the Commons the evidence showed that coronavirus targets people in an “unequal and disproportionate way”.


He said: “Black lives matter, as do those of the poorest areas of our country which have worse health outcomes and we need to make sure all of these considerations are taken into account, and action is taken to level-up the health outcomes of people across this country.

“Because there’s no more important levelling-up than the levelling-up of your life expectancy and the quality of health with which you live that life.”

Mr Hancock said the Covid-19 epidemic had shown “huge disparities” across the nation, depending on ethnicity and factors such as social deprivation.


“People are understandably angry about injustices and as Health Secretary I feel a deep responsibility because this pandemic has exposed huge disparities in the health of our nation,” he said.

“This work underlines that being black or from a minority ethnic background is a major risk factor.

“This racial disparity holds even after accounting for the effect of age, deprivation, region and sex.”

The PHE report showed that, after accounting for the effect of sex, age, deprivation and region, people of Bangladeshi ethnicity have around twice the risk of death than people who are white British.

Those of Chinese, Indian, Pakistani, Other Asian, Caribbean and Other Black ethnicity have between a 10% and 50% higher risk of death when compared to white British.


Meanwhile, the highest diagnosis Covid-19 rates per 100,000 population are in black people (486 females and 649 males), and are lowest in white people (220 in females and 224 in males).


Compared to previous years, death from all causes are now almost four times higher than expected among black males, almost three times higher in Asian males and almost two times higher in white males.

Among females, deaths were almost three times higher in black, mixed and other females, and 2.4 times higher in Asian females compared with 1.6 times in white females.

The study said the “relationship between ethnicity and health is complex and likely to be the result of a combination of factors”.

For example, minorities are likely to be at increased risk of acquiring the infection due to the fact they are more likely to live in urban areas, in overcrowded households, in deprived areas, and have jobs that expose them to higher risk, the study said.

Minority communities are also likely to be at increased risk of poorer outcomes once they contract Covid-19.

The study said some of this is due to underlying health issues, with people of Bangladeshi and Pakistani background having higher rates of cardiovascular disease than people who are white British.


Black Caribbean and Black African people also have higher rates of blood pressure, while Type 2 diabetes, which has obesity as its main driver, is more common in minority individuals.

The study also found that men working as security guards, taxi drivers and chauffeurs, bus and coach drivers, chefs, sales and retail assistants, lower skilled workers in construction and processing plants, and men and women working in social care, had significantly high rates of death from Covid-19.


PHE cited one study which included data from 17 million adults showing that, compared to those who are not obese, obese people are 27% more likely to die, rising to almost two-and-a-half times if they are morbidly obese.

So, in my view, the 75% figure is so full of other potential factors that it is pretty much bull**** in terms of risk of covid in supermarkets specifically from the actual shop itself.