COVID-19-infected healthcare workers had stronger risk characteristics outside of the workplace than they did in their hospital or health care setting. That is the discovery of a new study published today in Open JAMA Network led by researchers from the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM), colleagues at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and three other universities.
The study examined study data from nearly 25,000 health care providers in Baltimore, Atlanta, and Chicago including University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS) hospitals. They found that getting to know someone who tested positive for COVID-19 in the community was the strongest risk factor for testing positive for COVID-19. Staying in a zip code with high cumulative frequency COVID-19 was also a strong risk factor.
“The news is encouraging as it demonstrates that the steps taken are working to prevent the spread of disease in healthcare facilities,” said study co-author Anthony Harris, MD. MPH, Professor of Epidemiology & Public Health at UMSOM. ”Vaccination for health care workers, however, should be a priority due to ongoing exposures in the workplace. There is also an urgent need to keep health care providers healthy so that they can care for sick patients and reduce the risk of spreading the virus to vulnerable patients. “
Researchers from Emory University School of Medicine and Rollins School of Public Health in Atlanta, Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, and Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine also participated in this study. UMSOM faculty Robert Christenson, PhD, Brent King, MD, Surbhi Leekha, MBBS, Lyndsay O’Hara, PhD, Peter Rock, MD, MBA, and Gregory Schrank, MD, were co-authors of this study. The study was funded by the CDC Epicenters Prevention Program.
“The factors that are expected to contribute to the majority of infectious risk among health care providers, including the care of COVID-19 patients, were not related to increased risk in this study, “said study co – author Sujan Reddy MD, an infectious disease specialist at the CDC. “Perhaps the highest risks to health care workers are from exposures in the community.”
However, some cubes were important in the study. Since infection control practices were not regulated across the various health care sites, the study was unable to determine the level of effectiveness of personal protective equipment (N95 respirator, surgical mask, gown, face shields). And the study was unable to determine whether some infection control practices, such as frequent surface disinfection in test rooms, were superior to others in preventing the spread of disease.
Validating evidence from other studies, this study found that Black Americans who were health care workers were more likely to test positive for COVID-19 infections than their white peers. This may be due to the differences that already exist in community manifestations rather than from health care-related exposures.
“We are proud of this important collaborative clinical work with our research colleagues,” said Mohan Suntha, MD, MBA, President and CEO of UMMS. “We have made the safety of our team members a top priority throughout this pandemic, and it is encouraging to see that our efforts to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in hospitals have worked. This is also another example of the importance of the partnership between our academic healthcare system and the innovative discovery – based medical work that takes place every day at UM School of Medicine. “
“As frontline and support staff at hospitals and health systems continue to vigorously fight COVID-19, they can be reassured in this important research finding that the infection control measures which was in place to protect themselves and their families, “said E. Albert Reece, MD, PhD, MBA, Executive Vice President for Medical Affairs, UM Baltimore, and Distinguished Professor John Z. and Akiko K. Bowers, University of Maryland School of Medicine: “We need to know that we are doing what we can to protect our health care heroes, from providing them with appropriate protective equipment to providing them with early access to vaccines. ”
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