Protecting health-care workers from subclinical coronavirus infection

Abstract

Protecting health-care workers from subclinical coronavirus infectionHealth-care workers face an elevated risk of exposure to infectious diseases, including the novel coronavirus in China. It is imperative to ensure the safety of healthcare workers not only to safeguard continuous patient care but also to ensure they do not transmit the virus. COVID-19 can spread via cough or respiratory droplets, contact with bodily fluids, or from contaminated surfaces. 1 According to recent guidelines from the China National Health Commission, pneumonia caused by COVID-19 was included as a Group B infectious disease, which is in the same category as other infectious viruses such as severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and highly patho genic avian influenza (HPAI). How ever, current guidelines suggest ensuring protective measures for all health-care workers similar to those indicated for Group A infections-a category reserved for highly infectious pathogens, such as cholera and plague. 2 WHO confirmed 8098 cases and 774 (9•6%) deaths during the SARS outbreak in 2002, of which health-care workers accounted for 1707 (21%) cases.Recent evidence suggests that even someone who is non-symptomatic can spread COVID-19 with high efficiency, and conventional measures of protection, such as face masks,

COVID-19, Australia: Epidemiology Report 3: Reporting week ending 19:00 AEDT 15 February 2020

“…It found the mean R 0 to be 3. 28 and median R 0 to be 2.79, which exceeds the WHO preliminary R 0 of 1.4-2.5 (average 1.95). 24 Models using stochastic and statistical methods, such as exponential growth were reasonably comparable, while mathematical methods produced estimates on the higher side.…”

Reasons for healthcare workers becoming infected with novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in China

“…Globally, until 28 th February 2020 there have been reported 83,774 confirmed cases and 2,867 deaths [2]. During the periods of outbreak of COVID-19 or other infectious diseases, implementations of infection prevention and control (IPC) becomes a great importance in healthcare settings [3], particularly the great importance of personal protection of healthcare workers [4]. In order to contain the outbreak of COVID-19 in Mainland China, National Health Commission of the People's Republic of China (NHCPRC) have so far dispatched medical support teams (41,600 healthcare workers from 30 provinces and municipalities) to support the medical treatment in Wuhan and Hubei province [5].…”

Stepping up infection control measures in ophthalmology during the novel coronavirus outbreak: an experience from Hong Kong

“…In early January, he contracted COVID-19 from an asymptomatic glaucoma patient and succumbed to the disease one month later [10]. There were anecdotal reports suggesting that individuals may be infected by patients with subclinical infection [11], either by droplets or by direct contact with secretions from infected cases followed by subsequent inoculation into mucous membranes. Anecdotal reports suggested that when no eye protection was worn, the virus could also possibly be transmitted by aerosol contact with conjunctiva and cause infection [12][13][14].…”

“…With a daily attendance of over 500 patients in our outpatient clinic, it is important to reduce the number of outpatient attendance to prevent cross-infection in this vulnerable group of patients, as it has been shown that even subclinical patients are capable of transmitting the virus [11]. Informing a large number of outpatients to reschedule their appointments is often challenging.…”