1. Infection prevention strategies are highly protective in COVID-19 units while main risks to healthcare professionals come from coworkers and the community.
- Author
-
Gohil SK, Quan KA, Madey KM, King-Adelsohn S, Tjoa T, Tifrea D, Crews BO, Monuki ES, Khan S, Schubl SD, Bittencourt CE, Detweiler N, Chang W, Willis L, Khusbu U, Saturno A, Rezk SA, Figueroa C, Jain A, Assis R, Felgner P, Edwards R, Hsieh L, Forthal D, Wilson WC, Stamos MJ, and Huang SS
- Subjects
- Academic Medical Centers, Adult, California epidemiology, Community-Acquired Infections, Cross-Sectional Studies, Disease Outbreaks, Female, Humans, Infectious Disease Transmission, Patient-to-Professional prevention & control, Male, Middle Aged, Multivariate Analysis, Regression Analysis, Retrospective Studies, Risk Factors, COVID-19 prevention & control, Health Personnel, Infection Control
- Abstract
Background: Early evaluations of healthcare professional (HCP) COVID-19 risk occurred during insufficient personal protective equipment and disproportionate testing, contributing to perceptions of high patient-care related HCP risk. We evaluated HCP COVID-19 seropositivity after accounting for community factors and coworker outbreaks., Methods: Prior to universal masking, we conducted a single-center retrospective cohort plus cross-sectional study. All HCP (1) seen by Occupational Health for COVID-like symptoms (regardless of test result) or assigned to (2) dedicated COVID-19 units, (3) units with a COVID-19 HCP outbreak, or (4) control units from 01/01/2020 to 04/15/2020 were offered serologic testing by an FDA-authorized assay plus a research assay against 67 respiratory viruses, including 11 SARS-CoV-2 antigens. Multivariable models assessed the association of demographics, job role, comorbidities, care of a COVID-19 patient, and geocoded socioeconomic status with positive serology., Results: Of 654 participants, 87 (13.3%) were seropositive; among these 60.8% (N = 52) had never cared for a COVID-19 patient. Being male (OR 1.79, CI 1.05-3.04, p = 0.03), working in a unit with a HCP-outbreak unit (OR 2.21, CI 1.28-3.81, p < 0.01), living in a community with low owner-occupied housing (OR = 1.63, CI = 1.00-2.64, p = 0.05), and ethnically Latino (OR 2.10, CI 1.12-3.96, p = 0.02) were positively-associated with COVID-19 seropositivity, while working in dedicated COVID-19 units was negatively-associated (OR 0.53, CI = 0.30-0.94, p = 0.03). The research assay identified 25 additional seropositive individuals (78 [12%] vs. 53 [8%], p < 0.01)., Conclusions: Prior to universal masking, HCP COVID-19 risk was dominated by workplace and community exposures while working in a dedicated COVID-19 unit was protective, suggesting that infection prevention protocols prevent patient-to-HCP transmission. Prior to universal masking, HCP COVID-19 risk was dominated by workplace and community exposures while working in a dedicated COVID-19 unit was protective, suggesting that infection prevention protocols prevent patient-to-HCP transmission., (© 2021. The Author(s).)
- Published
- 2021
- Full Text
- View/download PDF