Why Are So Many Healthcare Professionals Infected With The Coronavirus?
Initially, a large number of healthcare professionals were infected with the coronavirus due to the lack of knowledge about preventive measures against COVID-19. Likewise, the progressive shortage of protective elements has exacerbated the problem.
SARS-CoV-2 is a virus that has spread since December 2019 almost all over the world. In addition, it is relatively new to science. It has affected a large part of the world’s population. Healthcare professionals have no immunity against this contagion. Many of them have been reported to be infected with the coronavirus.
There are several possible answers to the question mentioned in the title of this article. However, none of them are final. It should be added that the answer varies depending on the country where the infection is declared. Indeed, the incidence of this disease in the medical sector has different causes in China and France, for example.
Global reasons for coronavirus infection among healthcare professionals
One of the strongest and most recurring reasons for the large number of healthcare professionals infected with the coronavirus is that the pandemic has taken many by surprise. No one could have predicted this epidemic, which today manifests as one of the largest pandemics in history.
When the first cases of coronavirus patients were reported in China – the first country to detect the disease in its population – the healthcare system was unprepared for what quickly turned into an epidemic. Then a pandemic.
Healthcare workers, including doctors, nurses, paramedics, and even hospital and clinic cleaners, did not take adequate precautions to prevent infection in the first place, for obvious reasons. The tests were also not carried out in time to prevent the spread of the disease.
China has alerted the global community to the outbreak of the epidemic in the Wuhan region. Yet other countries did not pay attention to what was to come. As a result, their health systems were also taken by surprise. And their health workers have been infected with the coronavirus.
Healthcare professionals infected with the coronavirus, country by country
Looking at the information from the three countries most affected by the pandemic, it can be seen that so far around the world, other causes can be found for the fact that there is a high rate of contagion among the staff of the pandemic. health.
In the case of Italy, which has the highest rate of infections and deaths from COVID-19 in general, the number of healthcare professionals infected with the coronavirus is 4,874. This equates to 9 % of the total number of cases facing the country. In all, 19 people have already died in this area.
In Spain, the number of infected health workers is around 5,400 people. This corresponds to 12% of the total number of people affected in this country. And in China, the reported figure is around 4% of healthcare workers infected with the coronavirus, out of the total number of people infected in the country.
What to attribute these infections to?
In addition to the surprising arrival of COVID-19 in hospital wards around the world, the large number of healthcare workers infected with the coronavirus can be attributed to the lack of access to personal protective equipment. The almost sudden high demand for this material made it very difficult to cover all the needs at the same time.
Medical associations in several countries report that it is difficult to obtain professional masks and waterproof gear. To a lesser extent, nitrile gloves are also rare. This has led to a maximum rationalization of the use of the available material. This means that in many cases they are more vulnerable to contagion.
Another cause is the fact that not all nosocomials have closed their common spaces on time. Like dining rooms or multipurpose rooms. And there, as we could not respect the social distance recommended by the WHO – at least 1.5 meters between people – the virus could have spread more quickly.
Faced with this reality, medical industries around the world have mobilized to produce more gloves and masks in record time. But they have also been asked to produce respirators, hydroalcoholic gels and sanitizers, commonly used to disinfect medical instruments and hospital spaces.
Help healthcare professionals
Recommendations for the general population that involve consultation by telephone before going to a health center are also intended to protect health care providers. The accumulation of patients in hospitals puts everyone at greater risk, including health workers. The social responsibility of complying with quarantine and containment measures is helping to stop the spread of the coronavirus and slow it down, so that health teams can work without being overloaded.
