I keep seeing a very lazy argument that Ireland failed healthcare workers, due to high infection rates, yet nobody ever mentions how few deaths.

Cases of Healthcare Workers: 7,819
Deaths of Healthcare Workers: 7

Case Fatality Rate (CFR): 0.089%.

UK is 9x, Italy 8x higher.

The lazy argument goes like this:

"Ireland failed HCW's due to PPE, leading to high infection rates".

PPE is one part of the discussion, sure, but a bigger question to ask is: why are so few HCW's dying?

The answer is mostly down to Ireland's world class testing response.

In general, HCW's are demographically less likely to die than the general public are - they're typically younger, with less comorbidites.

That gets counter-weighed to an extent by the fact they're in much closer proximity to covid19 than the general public are.

Regardless, a CFR of 0.089% is tiny and can't be achieved without sustained testing drives.

Denominator goes markedly up catching cases early in otherwise healthy nurses, who are not likely to die.

Whereas UK's denominator is lower as they tested far less early = higher CFR.

It's a shambles to even work out the UK's CFR in healthcare workers.

You have to basically sell your soul to do it.

Trawling through Medscape, BMJ, obituaries in newspapers and rely on The Guardian's excellent work.

Ireland just gives you the number of infections and deaths.

An estimate on UK deaths in healthcare workers is ~290 which is about triple Ireland's rate per capita.

The baseline for that estimate comes from taking the Guardian's May 22nd 198 figure - which they say is a big under-estimate - and then cross-matching obituaries on Medscape.

It's not just we have a lower CFR because we tested more - because if that's all it was, the per capita death rates would be similar.

Our per capita death rates are 3x lower for HCW's. Why?

Test widely = pick up infections early = isolate = treat = fewer people die.

What makes all of this highly egregious bullshit is UK only confirmed 49 deaths in HCW's, despite hundreds definitely dead.

I know people are more interested in Dominic Cummings but I find the UK Govt. not bothering their hoop to count dead nurses to be far more shameful.

One thing worth pointing out is there's mounting evidence that deaths within HCW's in Europe are disproportionately a) lower paid jobs b) women.

-Porters, nurses, carers account for ~67% of UK's HCW deaths.
-Anaesthetists and ICU doctors account for 0% as best anyone can tell.

Biggest reason for this is (likely) surgical-grade PPE - and training in the use of - in ICU settings is better than, say, a hospital porter gets.

Not to harp on about it but the lack of a central register for this stuff, specifically for HCW deaths in the UK, is so shameful.

For us, more PPE and better training in PPE will definitely help to reduce attack rates.

Our aggressive testing is a big factor why Ireland has a) so many cases in healthcare workers yet, thankfully, b) so few deaths. RIP.

That's what WHO meant by 'testing saves lives'.

Most commentary focuses on how many cases we have but bizarrely omits testing levels and just how few died.

You can't have a fair conversation without discussing testing levels and deaths.

It's why I hold up Ireland's Medical Scientists as often as I can.

They saved lives.