학술논문
Effective control of SARS-CoV-2 transmission between healthcare workers during a period of diminished community prevalence of COVID-19
Document Type
article
Author
Nick K Jones; Lucy Rivett; Dominic Sparkes; Sally Forrest; Sushmita Sridhar; Jamie Young; Joana Pereira-Dias; Claire Cormie; Harmeet Gill; Nicola Reynolds; Michelle Wantoch; Matthew Routledge; Ben Warne; Jack Levy; William David Córdova Jiménez; Fathima Nisha Begum Samad; Chris McNicholas; Mark Ferris; Jane Gray; Michael Gill; The CITIID-NIHR COVID-19 BioResource Collaboration; Martin D Curran; Stewart Fuller; Afzal Chaudhry; Ashley Shaw; John R Bradley; Gregory J Hannon; Ian G Goodfellow; Gordon Dougan; Kenneth GC Smith; Paul J Lehner; Giles Wright; Nicholas J Matheson; Stephen Baker; Michael P Weekes
Source
eLife, Vol 9 (2020)
Subject
Language
English
ISSN
2050-084X
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.