To think that men should be removed from the frontline NHS roles too as they are disproportionately affected by coronavirus?

[manestay]

I've just read that BAME NHS workers will be removed from the front line because they are more likely to get seriously ill from coronavirus.

I have a male relative who is a front line worker and wonder if he will be removed too as men are disproportionately affected by coronavirus than women?

Surely they should be removing all groups who are vulnerable from front line work?

YANBU - Yes, men should be removed from frontline NHS roles.
YANBU - No, men should not be removed from frontline NHS roles.

I imagine it’s BAME men and not men in general who are more at risk.

Top tip - if you're feeling resentful of people who aren't white for any perceived preferential treatment that they receive in the U.K., you're probably being manipulated! The question is why would newspaper owners deliberately print falsehoods and misleading information to turn different groups of working and middle class people against each other?

Agreed but even when they do print it right, you get people like the OP not reading it properly.

The OP says

I've just read that BAME NHS workers will be removed from the front line because they are more likely to get seriously ill from coronavirus.

And yet the Guardian newspaper story she linked to clearly says

NHS looks into taking BAME staff off frontline for their safety

GrumpyHoonMain on the face of it statistically males as a sex class are at higher risk than females. 61% of deaths are males. That spied in China too. Being BAME origin is a separate risk factor. Being over 70 is another separate risk factor. Obviously being in all 4 categories is a perfect storm, but it isn't only BAME men who are at higher risk - men of any ethnicity are statistically higher risk than women of the same age and ethnicity.

www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/coronavirus-age-sex-demographics/

Sorry 4th risk category being specific underlying medical conditions and spies should be applied

Here's a thought. Maybe they could all get decent PPE. And tests.

Overweight people are also disproportionately affected - should they also be removed from frontline roles?

Obese HCPs have been removed from the frontline at the hospital where I work.

So yes, take away anyone with health conditions, men, BAME staff, anyone over 50 and anyone who lives with one of the above. Will leave about 15% of staff available I reckon!

I read somewhere that the higher proportion of male deaths in South Korea was thought to be linked to smoking. Couldn't find the original thing I read (didn't try hard, admittedly) but this came up:
www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/apr/07/coronavirus-hits-men-harder-evidence-risk

JacobReesMogadishu wow really? (for clarity I believe you but am surprised, I know that won't come over clearly if I'm not careful).

BMI isn't even being recognised as a risk factor in any practical way in Germany, where I live. Any mention of it is being countered with pointing out that smoking is a risk factor too, but I think that's actually been called into doubt now...

I work for a small team in a community based care home, and if all smokers and overweight healthcare workers were taken off the frontline there would not be a single worker left... It's not a facility which can just close, or people would die...

BrooHaHa, yet everywhere else, including our specialists agree that smokers are less effected.

I read across the tabloids that the suggestion was put forward that the over 50's should still be subject to a lock down, except for essential workers.

These measures are all too much of a loss of freedom. It should be voluntary. We are going to lose a lot of top consultants.

Jacob that must have made for some interesting conversations! Plus deciding what the cut off point was.

You can choose to stop smoking though, fairly quickly with patches? You can't become un-obese in a few weeks.

(By interesting, I mean difficult)

I think you are deluded to imagine we have either enough healthcare workers or the ability to manage the necessary level of dynamic scheduling to remove selected groups of staff from active patient care.

SquashedFlyBiscuit it takes ten years for the average smoker's arteries to widen and lungs to fully heal, and risk of strokes and cancer to return to non smoker levels. So not instant.

Weirdly despite lung damage smoking seems not to be the clear cut risk factor it originally seemed to be.

Smoking may of course be the cause of or an aggravating factor in underlying health conditions which are risk factors though (high blood pressure, heart disease, cancer).

YABU

The Guardian is the Left wing go to for click bait and pushing fake casual racism how can you have missed this. The reporting on Cologne and ever since on anything vaguely race related has been shameful

I am working in an ICU currently and if they were to do this there would be 2 nurses and 2 HCAs. The majority of my trust is made up of BAME healthcare professionals, the trust would not survive if they did this.

Both men and women are equally likely to get Covid-19. However, of those that have it men are more likely to be hospitalised or to die from it.

This is thought be be because men are more likely to be obese, unfit, have cardiovascular, have diabetes, to smoke and also to be less hygienic than women.

It's not actually a sex thing. (Though there is a theory that women have stronger immune system.) So men don't need to be removed from anything.

I've see the idea that's floating around that smokers are protected from Covid-19. Nice thought if you are a smoker!! But smoking significantly increases ACE2 expression. (That's the receptor for SARS-CoV-2.)

@manestay
"PlanBea, I read somewhere that it is because men have more of the receptors (particularly in their testicles) which the virus attaches to."

You have to tell me where you read that!! Want find out if it's bollocks or not (pun intended).