More than 900 health care workers have died from COVID-19, according to an interactive database unveiled by The Guardian and KHN on Tuesday. Lost on the Frontline is a collaborative effort between the two newsrooms aimed at counting, verifying and remembering every American health care worker who died during the pandemic.
It is the most comprehensive account of the deaths of U.S. health care workers in the country.
As cases of coronavirus break out – and severe shortages of rescue gear such as N95 masks, coats and gloves persist, the nation’s health care workers are once again facing life-threatening conditions in southern and western states.
Through crowddsourcing and reports from colleagues, social media, online obituaries, labor unions and local media, Reporters of Lost on the Frontline 922 have identified health care workers who reported deaths from COVID-19 and its complications.
A team of more than 50 journalists from the Guardian, KHN and journalism schools has been researching individual deaths for months to make sure they died of COVID-19, and that they were in fact working on the front lines in contact with COVID patients as in places where they were treated. The reporters also investigated the circumstances of her death, including her access to personal protective equipment (PPE), and tracked down family members, colleagues, union representatives and employers to comment on her deaths.
To date, we have independently confirmed 167 deaths and published their names, data and stories about their lives and how they are remembered. We continue to confirm additional victims and publish weekly new names.
The agreement includes doctors, nurses and paramedics, as well as crucial support staff such as hospital carers, administrators and hospital workers, who risk their own lives during the pandemic to care for others.
Early data indicate that dozens have died who were unable to access adequate PPE and at least 35 underwent it after federal safety officials received complaints about their workplaces. Early tallies also suggest that the majority of deaths among people were of color, and many were immigrants. But because this database is a work in progress – with newly confirmed cases added weekly – the early findings represent a fraction of the total reports and are not representative of all deaths of health care workers.
Of the 167 workers added to the Lost in Frontline database so far:
- A majority – 103 (62%) – were identified as people of color.
- At least 52 (31%) were reported to have insufficient PPE.
- The median age was 57 and ages ranged from 20 to 80, with 21 people (13%) under 40.
- About one-third – at least 53 – were born outside the United States, and 25 were from the Philippines.
- The majority of the dead, 103, were in April, after the initial rise on the East Coast.
- Roughly 38% – 64 – were nurses, but the total also included doctors, pharmacists, first responders and hospital technicians, among others.
- At least 68 people live in New York and New Jersey, two states hit hard at the start of the pandemic, followed by Illinois and California.
Some of these deaths were prevented. Poor preparation, government missteps and too many health care systems increased that risk. Lack of access to tests, a nationwide shortage of protective equipment and resistance to social distance and mask-wearing have forced more patients into excessive hospitals and raised the death toll.
Gaps in government data have increased the need for independent tracking. The federal government has failed to accurately count deaths of health care workers. As of Sunday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 587 deaths among health workers – but the agency does not list specific names and has acknowledged this is an undercount.
Recent moves by the White House underscore the need for public data and accountability. In July, the Trump administration ordered health facilities to send data on hospitalizations and deaths of COVID-19 directly to the Department of Health and Human Services, through the CDC. In the following days, important information about the pandemic disappeared from the public eye. (The data was later recovered after a public outcry, but the agency indicated it could no longer update the figures due to a change in federal reporting requirements.)
Reporters from Lost on the Frontline have compiled hundreds of potential cases through crowddsourcing and reports from colleagues, social media, online obituaries, labor unions and local media. They confirm each death independently before publishing names, data and obituaries.
Exclusive stories from the reporters have revealed that many healthcare professionals use surgical masks that are far less effective than N95 masks and have put them at risk. Emails received via a request for public records showed that federal and state officials in late February were aware of the very shortage of PPE.
Further research found that health workers who carried the coronavirus and their families are now struggling to gain access to death and other benefits in the workers’ compensation system. Our report also examined the deaths of 19 health care workers under the age of 30 who died from COVID-19.
We continue to collect the names of health care workers who have died and explain why so many fall ill. We welcome tips and feedback at [email protected] and [email protected].
KHN senior correspondent Christina Jewett and Melissa Bailey contributed to this report.
Kaiser Health News (KHN) is a national health policy service. It is an editorially independent program of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation that is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.
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