The Risk of SARS-CoV-2 Infection among Healthcare Workers

Abstract

Objective: We aimed to describe the risks of health care workers (HCWs) getting COVID-19, and analyze the transmission routes and dynamics of the infection. Methods: This is a prospective observational study. We screened 624 HCWs from April 1 to May 15, 2020, in a hospital with 300 hospital beds, in Istanbul, Turkey. All the HCWs working at high-risk areas (COVID wards, emergency departments, and intensive care units) were routinely screened every four weeks. The HCWs were grouped as high, moderate, low and none according to their risk of infection. Results: Out of 1300 total HCWs, 42 (3.2%) were diagnosed as COVID-19, 39 (3%) were confirmed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test. Among 42 symptomatic cases, 26 (62%) HCWs were hospitalized, mainly because of isolation needs, 62% received hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) alone, 11.5% HCQ + azithromycin, and 11.5% favipiravir only. All survived. We detected nine asymptomatic cases out of 550 HCWs (1.6%) in our screening for antibody levels. In none of the nine asymptomatic HCWs, SARS-CoV-2 RNA was not detected by PCR. In multivariate analysis for detecting the risk factors of the SARS-CoV-2 infection, working in high-risk areas (OR:5.2, CI:1.99-13.6, p=0.001), and not to use proper personal protective equipment (PPE) (OR:5.9, CI:1.66-21.2, p=0.006) increased the risk of infection. Conclusion: Routine screening of asymptomatic HCWs with antibody tests might be useful, but its effectiveness was limited. The HCWs working in high-risk areas had significantly higher risk. The strict use of appropriate PPE was effective in prevention.

Seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 Antibodies and Associated Factors in Healthcare Workers before the Era of Vaccination at a Tertiary Care Hospital in Turkey

“…While coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) remains a serious concern, front-line healthcare workers (HCWs) are one of the highest-risk occupational groups for COVID-19 infection, since they have contact with both COVID-19 patients and other healthcare professionals [5,6]. Initial estimates suggest that front-line HCWs may account for 10-20% of all COVID-19 diagnoses, and subsequent calculations based on meta-analyses of antibody prevalence from several countries demonstrate that the presence of IgG and/or IgM antibodies among HCWs has been found to vary between 7% and 9% [7][8][9][10]. In addition, it has been suggested that HCW may have a higher viral load and worse clinical outcomes than the general population due to repeated exposure to the virus.…”

Risk Groups for SARS-CoV-2 Infection among Healthcare Workers: Community Versus Hospital Transmission

“…In seroprevalence studies, risk factors have been reported as being black [1][2][3][4][5][6][7], being male [5,8,9], working in frontline [9][10][11][12][13], working in an emergency department [6,7], working in an intensive care unit [14], or working in a laboratory [11]. The availability of PPE is important for protection from infection [5,15]. Some studies have reported that non-occupational risk factors such as household contact can increase seropositivity [3,6,16,17].…”

COVID-19 Severity among Healthcare Workers: Overweight Male Physicians at Risk

“…In terms of transmission route, 264 (29%) positive HCWs reported household contact with symptomatic or asymptomatic family members. In one of our previous studies, we reported that medical secretaries and janitorial staff had a higher rate of infections, and they acquired the infection out of the hospital [ 17 ]. The rate of household contact was not significantly different between asymptomatic/mild and moderate/severe cases ( p = 0.638).…”