Transboundary and emerging diseases
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Transbound Emerg Dis · Feb 2021
Prospective surveillance study in a 1,400-bed university hospital: COVID-19 exposure at home was the main risk factor for SARS-CoV-2 point seroprevalence among hospital staff.
The Co-HCW study is a prospective cohort study among hospital staff, including healthcare workers (HCWs) and administration staff, at the Jena University Hospital (JUH), Germany. The objectives of this study were to assess SARS-CoV-2 IgG seroprevalence, individual exposure risk factors and compliance of HCWs to wear personal protective equipment (PPE). After the first nosocomial COVID-19 outbreak at JUH, mandatory masking was implemented on 20th March 2020. ⋯ We observed no evidence for an association between seroprevalence and exposure at work (aOR 0.48 (0.13, 1.70)) or with COVID-19 risk area according to the working place (aOR for intermediate-risk vs. high-risk: 1.97 (0.42, 9.22), aOR for low-risk versus high-risk: 2.10 (0.40, 11.06); p = .655). Reported compliance of HCWs to wear PPE differed (p < .001) between working in high-risk (98.3%) and in intermediate-risk areas (69.8%). In conclusion, compared to administration staff, we observed no additional risk to acquire SARS-CoV-2 infections by patient care, probably due to high compliance to wear PPE.