As states ease or end their coronavirus lockdowns — despite rising cases, predominantly across the South — some jobs are riskier than others.
Neither the federal government nor any individual states have released occupational data related to COVID-19 deaths. The only data available at this point has been provided by the UK government's Office of National Statistics, which found that men in manual labor jobs with low pay were more likely to die from COVID-19. Security guards had the highest increased risk, as are medical professionals, factory workers, hairdressers, taxi drivers, restaurant and hospitality workers, and flight attendants.
"Jobs involving close proximity with others, and those where there is regular exposure to disease, have some of the highest rates of death from COVID-19," said Ben Humberstone, a statistician on the report. "However, our findings do not prove conclusively that the observed rates of death involving COVID-19 are necessarily caused by differences in occupational exposure."
Of the information available from the US National Center for Health Statistics, which is part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there are indications that the virus has disproportionately impacted workers in meatpacking plants, for example.
To examine which occupations are at most risk, Business Insider is using the Coronavirus Risk Score, a metric created by Visual Capitalist in collaboration with the World Economic Forum. The scores are based on data from the US Labor Department's O*NET database, which examines data points for various health risks — like the risk of exposure to diseases and infections, physical proximity to other people, direct contact with the public, and freedom to make decisions like being able to stay home if they or their family members are ill — for hundreds of occupations. We're also including income data and employment numbers from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Here are nine of the most dangerous jobs to have as states reopen during the coronavirus pandemic.