More than 2,900 US health care workers have died of COVID-19 in pandemic: report

More than 2,900 health care workers in the U.S. have died of COVID-19 during the pandemic, according to an analysis by Kaiser Health News and The Guardian.

The report highlights that its recorded fatalities are significantly higher than those reported by the U.S. government. Health care workers in New York and New Jersey, where the pandemic hit hard early on in March and April, account for 680 of the deaths.

Most health care workers who died in the pandemic were people of color, accounting for 65 percent of the deaths, according to the report. Many were under the age of 60.

Reporters from The Guardian and KHN compiled data through labor unions, obituaries, news outlets and online posts made by the survivors of the health care workers. They also conducted interviews with relatives and friends of about 300 victims. A previous count revealed 1,450 deaths of health care workers during in the pandemic.

The report found that about one-third of the deaths involved concerns over personal protective equipment, which many hospitals faced shortages of in the early months of the pandemic as cases began to climb.

The information was gathered as part of The Guardian and KHN’s nine-month investigative data project titled “Lost on the Frontline.”

Health care workers are among those deemed essential workers first in line for the COVID-19 vaccine. The U.S. began inoculating health care workers and the elderly earlier this month.