Effective control of SARS-CoV-2 transmission between healthcare workers during a period of diminished community prevalence of COVID-19

Elife. 2020 Jun 19:9:e59391. doi: 10.7554/eLife.59391.

Abstract

Previously, we showed that 3% (31/1032)of asymptomatic healthcare workers (HCWs) from a large teaching hospital in Cambridge, UK, tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 in April 2020. About 15% (26/169) HCWs with symptoms of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) also tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 (Rivett et al., 2020). Here, we show that the proportion of both asymptomatic and symptomatic HCWs testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 rapidly declined to near-zero between 25th April and 24th May 2020, corresponding to a decline in patient admissions with COVID-19 during the ongoing UK 'lockdown'. These data demonstrate how infection prevention and control measures including staff testing may help prevent hospitals from becoming independent 'hubs' of SARS-CoV-2 transmission, and illustrate how, with appropriate precautions, organizations in other sectors may be able to resume on-site work safely.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; emerging pathogens; epidemiology; global health; human; human biology; infectious disease; medicine; occupational health; virology.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Asymptomatic Diseases
  • Betacoronavirus / genetics
  • Betacoronavirus / isolation & purification
  • COVID-19
  • COVID-19 Testing
  • Clinical Laboratory Techniques / statistics & numerical data*
  • Community-Acquired Infections / transmission
  • Contact Tracing
  • Coronavirus Infections / diagnosis
  • Coronavirus Infections / epidemiology
  • Coronavirus Infections / prevention & control
  • Coronavirus Infections / transmission*
  • Disease Transmission, Infectious / prevention & control
  • England / epidemiology
  • Family Characteristics
  • Female
  • Health Personnel*
  • Hospital Units
  • Hospitals, Teaching / organization & administration
  • Hospitals, Teaching / statistics & numerical data
  • Hospitals, University / organization & administration
  • Hospitals, University / statistics & numerical data
  • Humans
  • Infection Control
  • Infectious Disease Transmission, Patient-to-Professional / statistics & numerical data
  • Male
  • Mass Screening / organization & administration
  • Mass Screening / statistics & numerical data*
  • Middle Aged
  • Nasopharynx / virology
  • Occupational Diseases / epidemiology
  • Occupational Diseases / prevention & control*
  • Pandemics* / prevention & control
  • Patient Admission / statistics & numerical data
  • Pneumonia, Viral / diagnosis
  • Pneumonia, Viral / epidemiology
  • Pneumonia, Viral / prevention & control
  • Pneumonia, Viral / transmission*
  • Prevalence
  • Program Evaluation
  • Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction
  • SARS-CoV-2
  • Symptom Assessment