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

Accepted version
Peer-reviewed

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Type

Article

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Authors

Rivett, Lucy 
Sparkes, Dominic 
Forrest, Sally 

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.

Description

Keywords

COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, emerging pathogens, epidemiology, global health, human, human biology, infectious disease, medicine, occupational health, virology, Adult, Asymptomatic Diseases, Betacoronavirus, COVID-19, COVID-19 Testing, Clinical Laboratory Techniques, Community-Acquired Infections, Contact Tracing, Coronavirus Infections, Disease Transmission, Infectious, England, Family Characteristics, Female, Health Personnel, Hospital Units, Hospitals, Teaching, Hospitals, University, Humans, Infection Control, Infectious Disease Transmission, Patient-to-Professional, Male, Mass Screening, Middle Aged, Nasopharynx, Occupational Diseases, Pandemics, Patient Admission, Pneumonia, Viral, Prevalence, Program Evaluation, Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction, SARS-CoV-2, Symptom Assessment

Journal Title

Elife

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

2050-084X
2050-084X

Volume Title

9

Publisher

eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd

Rights

All rights reserved
Sponsorship
Wellcome Trust (108070/Z/15/Z)
Medical Research Council (MR/P008801/1)
Wellcome Trust (108082/A/15/Z)
Wellcome Trust (200871/Z/16/Z)
Wellcome Trust (206298/B/17/Z)
Wellcome Trust (207498/Z/17/Z)
Wellcome Trust (210688/Z/18/Z)
Medical Research Council (MC_PC_12009)
Medical Research Council (MC_PC_17230)
Wellcome Trust (215515/Z/19/Z)
MRC (MR/V011561/1)