Balance for Corona year 2020: Bavaria are healthier than the rest of Germans - with the exception of these professional groups

Created: 01/13/2022, 08:28 AM

From: Cornelia Schramm

Nurses do hard work - but increasingly they are also struggling with mental illnesses.

© Weilheim Hospital

In 2020, Bayern were less likely to be on sick leave than in 2019 - even though it was the year the pandemic began.

However, certain occupational groups were particularly often unable to work - such as geriatric nurses and nurses.

And not because of an infection with the coronavirus.

Munich

- Martin Siess does not consider hospitals to be a dangerous place - not even in the pandemic. "The staff wear protective equipment and work under high safety standards," explains the medical director and chairman of the board of the Klinikum rechts der Isar in Munich. "Around nine out of ten medical employees have been infected with the coronavirus in their private lives." In contrast to the workplace, people there often do not adhere to hygiene and distance rules. Whether a nurse is infected there or in the clinic - the result remains the same: he is on sick leave and is unable to work.

In its current health report for 2020, however, the Barmer health insurance company attributes only 0.7 percent of absenteeism in nursing to Covid19 diagnoses.

The statistics are based on data from around 3.8 million Barmer policyholders across Germany.

For Bavaria alone, data from 545,000 persons in employment between 15 and 65 years of age were evaluated.

Representatively, it can be said: Anyone who worked as a nurse in a hospital in Bavaria in 2020 had a higher risk of contracting the coronavirus.

The national average, the absenteeism due to a corona infection was only 0.4 percent.

"That is not surprising when you look at the course of the pandemic," says Siess.

"The first wave came over the Alps to us in the south first."

Corona year 2020: Barmer-Krankenkasse publishes health report

Nurses and geriatric nurses did not have to call in sick most often in 2020 because of Corona.

With 23.9 and 26.6 days of absence, respectively, are the front runners, but are still behind employees in the cleaning industry (27.4 days) and the postal and delivery services (30.5 days).

Post and parcel deliverers in Bavaria were reported sick for an average of 30.5 days in 2020.

© DPA / Friso Gentsch

"They are sad placements," says Claudia Wöhler, state manager of Barmer Bayern.

“After all, that is significantly longer than the average for employees in Bavaria in 2020, when they were on sick leave of 16.3 days.” She also makes a comparison: “University professors, for example, only logged off on average 4.4 days from work.” A good one But there is still news: "Bavaria is healthier than the national average: While every employee here was on sick leave for 18 days in 2020, it was only 16.3 days in Bavaria - only Baden-Württemberg and Hamburg recorded even fewer."

Parcel deliverers, building cleaners and caregivers are most often sick

Barmer attributes more than two thirds of absenteeism to just four types of illness: around 22 percent are diseases of the musculoskeletal system, including herniated discs or carpal tunnel syndrome in the hand.

Almost 21 percent make up mental disorders.

Almost twelve percent are injuries and a good 13 percent are respiratory diseases.

The longest sick leave, with an average of 51 days, can be traced back to mental disorders.

It is more often women who are absent because of this.

Men, on the other hand, because of back pain.

Cleaning in a piece: building cleaners often suffer physical damage from this job.

© DPA / Geatan Bally

In nursing, more than one in four days of absence is caused by musculoskeletal disorders and one in five by mental illness.

"The pandemic put a considerable physical and mental strain on the employees in the clinics," says Siess.

“The figures show that we need even more effective preventive measures for the body and for mental health in inpatient care.” The Barmer also demands this for the other sad front runners, such as postmen and cleaning staff.