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Attending gyms or living in more crowded homes are risk factors for contagion with the new coronavirus, unlike the use of public transport, commercial spaces and restaurants, reveals a study released this Thursday.
The study was presented by Henrique de Barros, from the Institute of Public Health of the University of Porto, during a meeting of experts, at the Infarmed headquarters in Lisbon, to discuss the epidemiological situation in Portugal.
The study was carried out in the Lisbon and Vale do Tejo region and involved 782 people infected with SARS-Cov-2, the coronavirus that causes covid-19 disease, and the collection of information took place between October 2 and on November 6.
The study reports that nearly half of those infected (47.6%) had attended higher education and a large majority said they went to the gym at least once a week (96.5%).
“We asked the exposure in the last 14 days in the case of controls [pessoas que não desenvolvem a infeção] and the 14 days prior to diagnosis, when we were questioning the cases of people with the infection, we asked the hours they were in gyms, shopping centers, catering structures “, Henrique de Barros said.
“Gym attendance was higher” in people who developed the infection, study says
Study participants They were also asked if they used public transport, if they worked remotely or if they practiced their profession in the workplace.
“There are obvious differences in the frequency of these exposures between controls, say in the general population, and people who had developed the infection and the frequency of gym was higher in those who developed the infection,” said the epidemiologist.
The frequency of shopping malls and restaurants was higher in people who did not develop the infection.
“The use of at least once in the last 14 days of public transport was higher in people who presented as cases of infection and telework was much higher among controls who did not have infection,” he said.
With the values adjusted for sex, age, nationality and level of education or education, gyms continue to be the most frequent context among those who present the infection, he said.
“Exposure to shopping centers and restaurants is more frequent among those who have not developed the infection,” said Henrique de Barros, who added that “teleworking is clearly and significantly more frequent among people who have not developed the infection.”
The study also found that people who work in elderly care and healthcare professionals clearly have a higher risk of infection.
In these estimates, it is the two professions that clearly remain at higher risk and therefore require greater attention and, conversely, higher education students are even at reduced risk, as well as retired people compared to people who work actively ”, he emphasized. .
The covid-19 pandemic has already caused more than 1.3 million deaths worldwide since December last year, including 3,701 in Portugal.
