The prevalence of COVID-19 in healthcare personnel in an adult and pediatric academic medical center. American journal of infection control Shepard, J., Kling, S. M., Lee, G., Wong, F., Frederick, J., Skhiri, M., Holubar, M., Shaw, J. G., Stafford, D., Schilling, L., Kim, J., Ick Chang, S., Frush, K., Hadhazy, E. 2021; 49 (5): 542–46

Abstract

BACKGROUND: It is vital to know which healthcare personnel (HCP) have a higher chance of testing positive for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (COVID-19).METHODS: A retrospective analysis was conducted at Stanford Children's Health (SCH) and Stanford Health Care (SHC) in Stanford, California. Analysis included all HCP, employed by SCH or SHC, who had a COVID-19 reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test resulted by the SHC Laboratory, between March 1, 2020 and June 15, 2020. The primary outcome was the RT-PCR percent positivity and prevalence of COVID-19 for HCP and these were compared across roles.RESULTS: SCH and SHC had 24,081 active employees, of which 142 had at least 1 positive COVID-19 test. The overall HCP prevalence of COVID-19 was 0.59% and percent positivity was 1.84%. Patient facing HCPs had a significantly higher prevalence (0.66% vs 0.43%; P?=?.0331) and percent positivity (1.95% vs 1.43%; P?=?.0396) than nonpatient facing employees, respectively. Percent positivity was higher in food service workers (9.15%), and environmental services (5.96%) compared to clinicians (1.93%; P < .0001) and nurses (1.46%; P < .0001), respectively.DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: HCP in patient-facing roles and in support roles had a greater chance of being positive of COVID-19.

View details for DOI 10.1016/j.ajic.2021.01.004

View details for PubMedID 33896582