Prevalence of positive COVID-19 among asymptomatic health care workers who care patients infected with the novel coronavirus: A retrospective study

Abstract

Background Limited information is available about COVID-19 infections among health care workers. Sensitive detection of COVID-19 cases in health care workers is crucial for hospital infection prevention policy, particularly for those who work with vulnerable patients. The aim of this study is to describe the prevalence of positive COVID-19 among asymptomatic health care workers who took care of patients with COVID-19 during the pandemic. Methods This retrospective study included all health care workers at King Abdullah University Hospital who take care of patients infected with COVID-19 patients from March 18, 2020 to April 29, 2020. They were tested for COVID-19 infection by use of real-time reverse-transcriptase rRT-PCR on samples from nasopharyngeal swabs. Results A total number of 370 health care workers were screened. The majority were nurses followed by physicians and other personnel. This study showed that all asymptomatic health care workers were tested negative for COVID-19Q. Conclusion Unexpectedly, the prevalence of positive COVID-19 among asymptomatic health care workers who take care of patients infected with the novel coronavirus was 0%. This result must be cautiously interpreted. Further studies are needed in order to find effective strategy of screening health care workers to insure a safe working environment.

Cellular pathology practice in the era of COVID-19 pandemic-related lockdowns - Experience from a tertiary hospital: A retrospective observational study

“…As per the technical biomedical staff, they followed also a similar way of work rotations. The application of such strategy for work style, along with the strict application of safety measures and protocols in hospital premises and in dealing with specimens received in the laboratory have contributed to maintaining COVID-19 disease acquisition among physicians and laboratory staff at low rate as we reported no proven infected staff in our laboratory, like other KAUH HCWs who kept working in the hospital during the lockdown period [ 7 ]. The traditional cellular pathology reporting sessions using multiheaded microscopes was replaced by using personal microscopes and connected monitors to avoid close contact or cross infection.…”

“…In Jordan, until the December 31, 2020, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases approached 300,000 and the number of deaths exceeded 3800 [ 6 ]. The March 2, 2020 was the date of first case of COVID-19 disease to be diagnosed in Jordan, to a Jordanian male who came from Italy [ 7 ]. In March 2020, the officials in Jordan, similar to many other countries, were observing the spread of COVID-19 in the world and discussing options to control its entry and spread in Jordan.…”

“…Such strategies included the postponement of elective surgeries and procedures, and outpatients’ clinics until the end of the lockdown; dealing only with urgent surgeries and procedures, along with emergency cases during the lockdown period, as well as limiting aerosol generation procedures to negative pressure rooms [ 9 ]. Moreover, Healthcare workers (HCWs) with chronic medical illnesses like diabetes mellitus, hypertension and chronic respiratory diseases as well as pregnant ladies were exempted from work during this period [ 7 ].…”

Impacto De La Primera Ola Pandémica De Covid-19 en El Personal De Salud en Un Hospital Privado

“…La infección por SARS-CoV-2 es un riesgo para todo el personal de salud, en especial los que están en la primera línea de atención de pacientes infectados por el virus. No obstante, lo anterior, la existencia de portadores asintomáticos hace que el riesgo exista también al manejar pacientes con otros diagnósticos 13 , 14 . La prevención de COVID-19 en el PS es muy relevante, no solo para reducir su morbimortalidad, sino que para mantener la capacidad del sistema sanitario y reducir la transmisión secundaria 15 .…”

SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR positivity and antibody prevalence among asymptomatic hospital-based health care workers

“…The period prevalence study of SARS-CoV-2 detection and IgG seroprevalence among a random sample of HCWs in an academic hospital and three affiliated community hospitals 45-109 days post the peak number of COVID-19 admissions demonstrated unexpectedly low estimates. However, a literature review [ 2 , [7] , [8] , [9] , [10] , [11] , [12] , [13] , [14] , [15] , [16] , [17] , [18] , [19] , [20] , [21] , [22] ] indicates that most studies of asymptomatic HCWs show similarly low estimates ( Table 2 ). Consideration of the timing of testing related to the phase of the epidemic locally is critical, [ 9 ] as is the timing related to the ready availability and compliant use of personal protective equipment (PPE) [ 1 ].…”