• Miguel Ángel Salazar, Leslie Chavez-Galan, Armando Castorena-Maldonado, Maribel Mateo-Alonso, Nadia Otilia Diaz-Vazquez, Ana María Vega-Martínez, José Arturo Martínez-Orozco, Eduardo Becerril-Vargas, Fernando Manuel Sosa-Gómez, Hilda Patiño-Gallegos, Delfino Alonso-Martínez, Enrique López-Segundo, Fernando Vidal, Luis Joan Velasco-González, Silvia Pérez-Pulido, Patricio Santillán-Doherty, Justino Regalado-Pineda, Jorge Salas-Hernández, and Ivette Buendía-Roldán.
• Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Respiratorias Ismael Cosio Villegas, Mexico, Mexico.
• Front Public Health. 2021 Jan 1; 9: 651144.

AbstractBackground: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Healthcare workers (HCWs) constitute a population which is significantly affected by SARS-CoV-2 infection worldwide. In Mexico, the Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Respiratorias (INER) is the principal national reference of respiratory diseases. Aim: To evaluate the efficiency of the INER-POL-TRAB-COVID19 program to mitigate the SARS-CoV-2 infection risk among the INER-healthcare workers (INER-HCW). Methods: Currently, the INER has 250 beds and 200 respiratory ventilators to support COVID-19 patients in critical condition. On March 1st, 2020, the INER-POL-TRAB-COVID19 program was launched to mitigate the SARS-CoV-2 infection risk among the INER-HCW. Findings: From March 1st to October 1st, 2020, 71.5% of INER-HCWs were tested for SARS-CoV-2 infection, and 77% of them were frontline workers. Among the tested INER-HCWs, 10.4% were positive for SARS-CoV-2 infection. Nonetheless, nosocomial infection represented only 3.8% of the cases and the mortality was null. Fifty-three of INER-HCWs positive to SARS-CoV-2 had a negative test 42-56 days post-diagnosis and were returned to service. Finally, although a change in the PPE implemented on May 11th, 2020, the incidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection was not affected. Conclusion: INER has a lower incidence of HCWs infected with SARS-CoV-2 as compared to the mean of the national report. The implementation of the INER-POL-TRAB-COVID19 program is efficient to decrease the risk of infection among the HCWs. Our findings suggest that the implementation of a similar program at a national level can be helpful to provide a safe environment to HCWs and to prevent the collapse of health institutions.Copyright © 2021 Salazar, Chavez-Galan, Castorena-Maldonado, Mateo-Alonso, Diaz-Vazquez, Vega-Martínez, Martínez-Orozco, Becerril-Vargas, Sosa-Gómez, Patiño-Gallegos, Alonso-Martínez, López-Segundo, Vidal, Velasco-González, Pérez-Pulido, Santillán-Doherty, Regalado-Pineda, Salas-Hernández and Buendía-Roldán.

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