Trucking industry accounts for 25% of COVID-19 deaths in Georgia

ATLANTA — Nearly 8,000 employees in the Georgia trucking industry have died of COVID-19, making it the hardest-hit industry in the state during the pandemic.

New data assembled by the Georgia Department of Health for WSB-TV shows that 7,707 employees identified as having jobs in the transportation or moving materials occupation had died of COVID-19 as of Sept. 2021.

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A total of just over 30,000 Georgians have died since the start of the pandemic.

People employed in trucking account for 25% of COVID-19 deaths in the state.

It’s unclear why the trucking industry experienced such a high mortality rate. Data on vaccination rates among truckers and transportation employees has not been released.

The next hardest-hit industry is in production operations, in which just over 2,500 employees have died of the virus.

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When deaths are broken down by industry, manufacturing was the hardest hit with 3,912 deaths reported. Healthcare was next with 2,461 COVID-19 deaths reported.

Data also shows that 1,780 school workers have died of the virus and nearly 1,000 accommodation and food services workers have died.

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