SARS-CoV-2 antibody prevalence in health care workers: Preliminary report of a single center study

Abstract

SARS-CoV-2 has driven a pandemic crisis. Serological surveys have been conducted to establish prevalence for covid-19 antibody in various cohorts and communities. However, the prevalence among healthcare workers is still being analyzed. The present study reports on initial sero-surveillance conducted on healthcare workers at a regional hospital system in Orange County, California, during May and June, 2020. Study participants were recruited from the entire hospital employee workforce and the independent medical staff. Data were collected for job title, location, covid-19 symptoms, a PCR test history, travel record since January 2020, and existence of household contacts with covid-19. A blood sample was collected from each subject for serum analysis for IgG antibodies to SARS-CoV-2. Of 3,013 tested individuals, a total 2,932 were included in the analysis due to some missing data. Observed prevalence of 1.06% (31 antibody positive cases), adjusted prevalence of 1.13% for test sensitivity and specificity were identified. Significant group differences between positive vs. negative were observed for age (z = 2.65, p = .008), race (p = .037), presence of fever (p < .001) and loss of smell (p < .001). Possible explanation for this low prevalence includes a relatively low local geographic community prevalence (~4.4%) at the time of testing, the hospital's timely procurement of personal protective equipment, rigorous employee education, patient triage and treatment protocol development and implementation. In addition, possible greater presence of cross-reactive adaptive T cell mediated immunity in healthcare workers vs. the general population may have contributed. Determining antibody prevalence in front-line workers, and duration of antibody presence may help stratify the workforce for risk, establish better health place policies and procedures, and potentially better mitigate transmission.

Seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies among health care workers prior to vaccine administration in Europe, the USA and East Asia: A systematic review and meta-analysis

“… [37] Belgium May-June Cross Sectional Chemiluminescent Microparticle Immunoassay 1485 NA 73.1 37.03 Moderate Brant-Zawadski et al. [38] USA May-June Cross-Sectional NA 2924 42.6 72.7 54.3 High Brunner et al. [39] USA May Cross Sectional Lateral Flow Immunoassay 601 NA 72.4 NA High Chen et al.…”

Immunoglobin G/total antibody testing for SARS-CoV-2: A prospective cohort study of ambulatory patients and health care workers in two Belgian oncology units comparing three commercial tests

“…This adds on to the measures which were taken in our hospitals to provide cancer care as safe as possible [6,10-12]. The prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies among HCWs which are presumed at higher risk for infection, has been increasingly investigated [ 40 ]. In a meta-analysis of 49 studies including 127,480 health care workers overall seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies was 8.7% (95% CI: 6.7-10.9%) [ 41 ].…”

COVID‐19 prevalence among health‐care workers of Gastroenterology department: An audit from a tertiary‐care hospital in India

“…Several studies have reported 0–17.4% COVID‐19 prevalence among HCWs 2–14 . However, very few have evaluated the impact of COVID‐19 on specific medical departments 17,18 .…”

“…Health‐care workers (HCWs) constitute a special subgroup of the population, which is at a substantial risk of infection and is an important disease transmission source. Previous studies have reported COVID‐19 seroprevalence rates of up to 17.4% among the HCWs 2–14 . Moreover, an increasing number of reports have demonstrated that HCWs are affected by COVID‐19 with significant morbidity and mortality.…”