Question reference: S5W-32952
- Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
- Date lodged: 2 November 2020
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Current status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 12 November 2020
Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-32563 by Jeane Freeman on 30 October 2020, what information the NHS collects regarding people's (a) employment status, (b) occupation and (c) place of work when they test positive for COVID-19; what format this information is recorded in, and whether it will ask the NHS to publish a regular statistical analysis of the data collected.
Answer
When an individual tests positive for COVID-19, their Test and Protect interview gathers details on where the individual has been in the 7 days prior to the date of symptom onset, or test-date if the person was asymptomatic. Public Health Scotland have confirmed there are fields for an individual's occupation and sector during this interview. Further information on settings and events is also collected and published in Table 8d of the Public Health Scotland COVID-19 Statistical report [ link ]. Public Health Scotland cannot infer from these figures whether a specific setting or event indicates where the COVID-19 transmission took place.
Scottish Government continues to work closely with Public Health Scotland on the publication of data related to Test and Protect. We constantly evaluate the balance between public benefit and data protection in our response to the COVID-19 pandemic.