Community pharmacists' exposure to COVID-19

Abstract

Introduction: Since the beginning of the 2020 Sars-CoV-2 Italian outbreak, healthcare workers have been among the most exposed categories. There is little information about community pharmacists' on occupational exposure, symptoms development, and testing practices in the community pharmacist cohort. Methods: Between April 30th and May 10th, a questionnaire was administered through social media to Italian community pharmacists. From 67000 pharmacists currently working in community pharmacies, 1632 answered the survey. Results: The survey population reflected the general Italian community pharmacists population in terms of age, gender, and number of co-workers. Protective measures were adopted in up to 99.9% of pharmacies. 624 pharmacists (38.2%) developed at least one COVID-19 related symptom in the period between February 28th and May 10th. Also, 102 pharmacists (6.2%) were tested for COVID-19 and 15, the 15% of the tested population and 0.92% of the whole survey population, resulted positive on nasopharyngeal swab. However, while the number of symptomatic pharmacists decreased, a higher number of tests were performed, thus COVID-19 prevalence among community pharmacists could have been underestimated and is probably intermediate between other healthcare workers and the general population (0.31%). Conclusion: Community pharmacists have probably been one of the first categories to experience increased contact risk to SARS-CoV-2. COVID-19 prevalence among pharmacists could have been underestimated. In addition, the rates of protection measures adoption might have helped to reduce the spread of COVID-19 among coworkers and the community.

Community pharmacist’s professional adaptation amid Covid-19 emergency: a national survey on Italian pharmacists

“…Working activities were regulated based on INAIL classification of workrelated risk of becoming infected [10]. Even though the risk for pharmacists was deemed high, as later confirmed by data from Cabas et al [19], pharmacists' activities were considered essential and were not interrupted during the pandemic, even though not specifically regulated by health authorities. To the authors' best knowledge, only the Federation of the Orders of Italian Pharmacists (FOFI) provided pharmacists with specific educational material to better cope against the COVID-19 spread [20].…”

“…In early January 2020, the new coronavirus, tentatively called 2019-nCoV, was isolated and interhuman transmission confirmed [2]. On February 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) officially defined the new infection as Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID- 19) [3]; right after, the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses classified the virus as Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) [4]. After a constant spread all over the world, on 11 March 2020, WHO decreed the state of pandemic for COVID-19 disease [5].…”

COVID-19-Induced Thrombosis in Patients without Gastrointestinal Symptoms and Elevated Fecal Calprotectin: Hypothesis Regarding Mechanism of Intestinal Damage Associated with COVID-19

“…At the time of writing this letter, the principal cause of mortality in patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection is respiratory failure with exudative diffuse alveolar damage and massive capillary congestion often accompanied by microthrombi or, in lower percentages, by generalized thrombotic microangiopathy, as reported by post-mortem examinations [ 1 ]. With coronavirus infectious disease 2019 (COVID-19) being conceived as a solely respiratory disease [ 2 , 3 ], the scientific community initially assumed that the lungs represented the preferred and initial site of viral proliferation, as well as its primary source for shedding and transmission.…”

Impact psychique de la pandémie de Covid-19 sur les professionnels soignants

“…Bien que peu reconnus dans les médias et relativement peu documentés dans la littérature scientifique, les pharmaciens d’officine ont fait partie des soignants de première ligne dans la lutte contre la pandémie [8] .…”