RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – A new American study alerts that supermarket workers are up to five times more likely to test positive for the novel coronavirus. Moreover, it is estimated that 75 percent remain asymptomatic.
Faced with the current Covid-19 pandemic and the second wave of the virus that is ravaging the world, supermarkets are among the few stores that remain open in certain countries.
However, a team of researchers found that up to 75 percent of workers in these places who test positive for the novel coronavirus do not show any symptoms.
In the study, academics analyzed 104 employees in a supermarket in Boston, United States.
Each worker completed a questionnaire about his or her lifestyle, medical and work history, before taking the diagnostic test.
According to the results, one in five individuals tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, 75 percent of whom were and remained asymptomatic.
Worryingly, among those who tested positive, 91 percent were serving customers.
In the study published in BMJ, researchers said: “the moment essential workers become infected, they become a powerful source of transmission due to the services they provide to the community”.
The data also showed that several workers reported mental health problems as a consequence of the pandemic. Approximately 24 percent reported suffering from anxiety, while eight percent reported depression.
The researchers stated: “We consider it of extreme urgency to assist essential workers so that they may remain healthy both physically and mentally during the Covid-19 pandemic”.