Introduction Amapá is a state in the Brazilian Amazon, located on the left bank of the Amazon River, which in 2020 had a population of 860,000 inhabitants. It is one of the Brazilian states with the greatest socioeconomic vulnerability and with low medical and hospital density. In the context of COVID-19, the health services of the State presented a high burden, with the lack of personal protective equipment for health professionals and many absences from work due to illness.

Objective To analyze factors associated with the death of health professionals by COVID-19 in the State of Amapá.

Methods Case-control study that used official data produced and made publicly available by the State Department of Health of Amapá. The events of interest were deaths of health professionals, residing in the State, by COVID-19 and the controls were individuals cured of the disease. Active cases of the disease were excluded from the analysis. The analyzed data were recorded between March 2020 and January 2021. . Logistic regression was used for analysis, with a significance level of p-value < 0.05.

Results Data from 1,258 professionals were included in the analysis. Of this total, 20 had an outcome of death and 1,238 had a cured outcome of COVID-19. The majority were female (67.7%), race/brown (66.9%), without comorbidity (86.6%), living in the Metropolitan Region of Macapá (capital of the State) (56.7%). Factors associated with death were: age ≥ 65 years (odds ratio (OR) 10.43; 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.78–39.11), presence of comorbidity (OR 4.52; 95% CI 1.74–11.74) and residence in the region metropolitan area of Macapá (OR 4.37; 95% CI 1.25–15.29). The model was adjusted by the gender variable.

Conclusion Protective actions for workers most susceptible to death, such as moving to activities with less exposure and/or teleworking, are necessary.