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High numbers of COVID-19 patients transit through non-COVID wards, and associated healthcare workers have high infection rates: An observational cross-sectional study

Infection risk is high in healthcare workers working with COVID-19 patients but the risk in non-COVID clinical environments is less clear. We measured infection rates early in the pandemic by SARS-CoV-2 antibody and/or a positive PCR test in 1118 HCWs within various hospital environments with partic...

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Autores principales: Nallamilli, Susanna, Patel, Tejus, Buazon, April, Vidler, Jennifer, Norton, Sam, Atta, Mustafa, Galloway, James, Bowcock, Stella
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9581418/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36260597
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0275154
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author Nallamilli, Susanna
Patel, Tejus
Buazon, April
Vidler, Jennifer
Norton, Sam
Atta, Mustafa
Galloway, James
Bowcock, Stella
author_facet Nallamilli, Susanna
Patel, Tejus
Buazon, April
Vidler, Jennifer
Norton, Sam
Atta, Mustafa
Galloway, James
Bowcock, Stella
author_sort Nallamilli, Susanna
collection PubMed
description Infection risk is high in healthcare workers working with COVID-19 patients but the risk in non-COVID clinical environments is less clear. We measured infection rates early in the pandemic by SARS-CoV-2 antibody and/or a positive PCR test in 1118 HCWs within various hospital environments with particular focus on non-COVID clinical areas. Infection risk on non-COVID wards was estimated through the surrogate metric of numbers of patients transferred from a non-COVID to a COVID ward. Staff infection rates increased with likelihood of COVID exposure and suggested high risk in non-COVID clinical areas (non patient-facing 23.2% versus patient-facing in either non-COVID environments 31.5% or COVID wards 44%). High numbers of patients admitted to COVID wards had initially been admitted to designated non-COVID wards (22–48% at peak). Infection risk was high during a pandemic in all clinical environments and non-COVID designation may provide false reassurance. Our findings support the need for common personal protective equipment standards in all clinical areas, irrespective of COVID/non-COVID designation.
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spelling pubmed-95814182022-10-20 High numbers of COVID-19 patients transit through non-COVID wards, and associated healthcare workers have high infection rates: An observational cross-sectional study Nallamilli, Susanna Patel, Tejus Buazon, April Vidler, Jennifer Norton, Sam Atta, Mustafa Galloway, James Bowcock, Stella PLoS One Research Article Infection risk is high in healthcare workers working with COVID-19 patients but the risk in non-COVID clinical environments is less clear. We measured infection rates early in the pandemic by SARS-CoV-2 antibody and/or a positive PCR test in 1118 HCWs within various hospital environments with particular focus on non-COVID clinical areas. Infection risk on non-COVID wards was estimated through the surrogate metric of numbers of patients transferred from a non-COVID to a COVID ward. Staff infection rates increased with likelihood of COVID exposure and suggested high risk in non-COVID clinical areas (non patient-facing 23.2% versus patient-facing in either non-COVID environments 31.5% or COVID wards 44%). High numbers of patients admitted to COVID wards had initially been admitted to designated non-COVID wards (22–48% at peak). Infection risk was high during a pandemic in all clinical environments and non-COVID designation may provide false reassurance. Our findings support the need for common personal protective equipment standards in all clinical areas, irrespective of COVID/non-COVID designation. Public Library of Science 2022-10-19 /pmc/articles/PMC9581418/ /pubmed/36260597 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0275154 Text en © 2022 Nallamilli et al https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Nallamilli, Susanna
Patel, Tejus
Buazon, April
Vidler, Jennifer
Norton, Sam
Atta, Mustafa
Galloway, James
Bowcock, Stella
High numbers of COVID-19 patients transit through non-COVID wards, and associated healthcare workers have high infection rates: An observational cross-sectional study
title High numbers of COVID-19 patients transit through non-COVID wards, and associated healthcare workers have high infection rates: An observational cross-sectional study
title_full High numbers of COVID-19 patients transit through non-COVID wards, and associated healthcare workers have high infection rates: An observational cross-sectional study
title_fullStr High numbers of COVID-19 patients transit through non-COVID wards, and associated healthcare workers have high infection rates: An observational cross-sectional study
title_full_unstemmed High numbers of COVID-19 patients transit through non-COVID wards, and associated healthcare workers have high infection rates: An observational cross-sectional study
title_short High numbers of COVID-19 patients transit through non-COVID wards, and associated healthcare workers have high infection rates: An observational cross-sectional study
title_sort high numbers of covid-19 patients transit through non-covid wards, and associated healthcare workers have high infection rates: an observational cross-sectional study
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9581418/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36260597
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0275154
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