At least 1,209 workers died of COVID-19 in 18 months

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The Health and Safety Labor Watch (İSİG) has announced that at least 1,209 workers lost their lives due to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in 18 months from March 11, 2020 to September 10, 2021.

While 106 of the deceased workers were women, the remaining 1,103 workers were men, according to the İSİG Assembly report.

Recalling that the vast majority of the deaths, except for those of the workers, were of workers' families and pensioners from the previous generation of workers, the İSİG report has said that "it is the major indication of the fact that COVID-19 is a working class disease."

According to the report, the COVID-19 deaths occurred the most among healthcare workers, teachers, office workers, shopkeepers, municipal workers, security guards and factory workers (especially in textile and metal industries). 13 percent of the deceased were unionized.

Distribution by months

The İSİG Assembly's report has listed the COVID-19 deaths among workers in the last 1.5 years by months:

At least 14 workers lost their lives due to COVID-19 in the last 20 days of March 2020; this number was at least 105 in April 2020, at least 30 in May 2020, at least 13 in June 2020, at least 16 in July 2020, at least 57 in August 2020, at least 52 in September 2020, at least 53 in October 2020, at least 162 in November 2020 and at least 242 in December 2020.

As for 2021, at least 81 workers died of COVID-19 in January, at least 38 workers died in February, at least 36 workers died in March, at least 136 workers died in April, at least 121 workers died in May, at least 15 workers died in June, at least 3 workers died in July, at least 22 workers died in August and at least 13 died of COVID-19 in the first 10 days of September.

Distribution by employment, sector

Of these COVID-19 deaths, 1,030 of the deceased were wage earners while 179 were self-employed. That is, while 85 percent of the deceased were wage earners, 15 percent were self-employed.

The distribution of COVID-19 deaths among workers in the last 18 months was as follows according to sectors:

429 workers in the Healthcare and Social Services; 386 workers in Trade, Bureau, Education and Cinema; 111 workers in Municipal, General Affairs; 72 workers in Defense, Security; 32 workers in Metal; 30 workers in Textile, Leather; 27 workers in Transportation; 19 workers in Accommodation, Recreation; 14 workers in Agriculture, Forestry, 14 workers in Petrochemistry, Plastic; 14 workers in Press, Journalism; 11 workers in Banking, Finance, Insurance; 9 workers in Energy; 8 workers in Food, Confectionery; 7 workers in Construction; 5 workers in Communication; 5 workers in Ship, Dock; 4 workers in Wood, Paper; 3 workers in Mining; 3 workers in Cement, Soil, Glass; and 6 workers in unidentified sectors.

Distribution by age, unionization, city

While 13 deceased workers were in the 18-27 age group, 495 were in the 28-50 age group, 543 were in the 51-64 age group, 128 were at and over the age of 65 and the ages of 30 workers were unknown.

Of the ones who died of COVID-19 in 18 months, 161 workers (13.31 percent) were unionized while 1,048 (86.69 percent) were not the members of a union. The unionized workers were working in the sectors of agriculture, food, chemistry, textile, communication, bureau, education, trade, glass, metal, construction, transportation, healthcare, security and municipality.

The distribution of deaths by cities is as follows:

248 deaths in İstanbul; 59 deaths in Ankara; 58 deaths in Kocaeli; 55 deaths in İzmir; 40 deaths in İzmir; 38 deaths in Mersin; 36 deaths in Hatay; 35 deaths in Antep; 34 deaths in Kayseri; 33 deaths in Diyarbakır; 32 deaths in Konya; 25 deaths each in Manisa and Samsun; 23 deaths in Aydın; 22 deaths each in Denizli and Urfa; 20 deaths in Adana; 19 deaths in Sakarya; 16 deaths in Tekirdağ; 15 deaths each in Maraş and Osmaniye; 14 deaths each in Antalya and Malatya; 12 deaths each in Erzurum, Trabzon and Zonguldak; 11 deaths each in Balıkesir, Muğla and Van; 10 deaths in Edirne; 9 deaths each in Elazığ, Eskişehir, Isparta and Kütahya; 8 deaths each in Ağrı, Çanakkale, Çankırı, Çorum, Giresun, Kırıkkale and Nevşehir; 7 deaths each in Kırklareli and Ordu; 6 death each in Afyon, Amasya, Bolu, Düzce, Kastamonu and Mardin; 5 death each in Bingöl, Rize, Sivas and Tokat,; 4 death each in Adıyaman, Erzincan, Karaman and Uşak; 3 deaths each in Aksaray, Bartın, Burdur, Iğdır, Karabük, Kilis, Siirt, Tunceli and Yalova; 2 deaths each in Batman, Bilecik, Bitlis, Gümüşhane, Niğde, Sinop and Yozgat; 1 death each in Artvin, Hakkari, Kars and Kırşehir. While 13 deaths occurred abroad, no workers' deaths due to COVID-19 were diagnosed in the provinces of Ardahan, Muş and Şırnak. (TP/SD)