Many healthcare workers struggling with health due to Covid

Many healthcare workers are struggling with mental- and physical health problems due to the coronavirus crisis. Many are also avoiding care in order not to put extra pressure on their colleagues, according to a study by the IZZ Foundation and Utrecht University, De Telegraaf reports.

Over 80 percent or healthcare workers worry about the coronavirus. 20 percent have been infected, and half of them are struggling with long Covid, the researchers found. Three quarters of healthcare staff are suffering from physical complaints, a third from mental health problems.

"The figures are worrying," Anouc ten Arve of IZZ, an association with over 410 thousand members, said to the newspaper. According to her, many healthcare workers are avoiding getting the care they need because they don't want to put more pressure on their colleagues. As a result, sick leave is increasing. "This is at the expense of the quality and availability of care."