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Abstract
Objective: A 6-month longitudinal surveillance study of asymptomatic healthcare providers (HCP) was carried out at a large urban academic medical center in the United States to assess whether their job occupation with higher exposure risks to SARS-CoV-2 would equate with higher risk of contracting COVID-19 at the beginning of the pandemic before COVID-19 vaccines were available.
Methods: A longitudinal cohort study design was used to collect and analyze immunological and virological monitoring data and self-report survey assessments of personal protective equipment (PPE) availability, adherence to infection control guidelines, and time spent on COVID-19 wards.
Results: Among 289 eligible participants, SARS-CoV-2 exposure risk was high with 48–69% participants working in COVID-19 units and more than 30% of them caring for COVID-19 patients. However, the seroconversion rate was low with only 2.1% of participants developing humoral or cellular immunity against SARS-CoV-2.
Conclusion: Our study findings suggest that, for this HCP cohort working at a large urban academic medical center, a low incidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection could be maintained under conditions of strict infection prevention protocols and reliable PPE availability.
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2023
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.1177/10998004231161632
Funding Information
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by COVID-19 Basic, Translational and Clinical Research Fund from UC Irvine Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and UL1TR001414–06 (NIH/NCATS).
Repository Citation
Shin, Sanghyuk S.; Bender, Miriam; Malherbe, Delphine C.; Vasquez, Hannah; Doratt, Brianna M.; and Messaoudi, Ilhem, "SARS-Cov-2 Infection and Seroconversion Rates in Healthcare Providers Prior to COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout" (2023). Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics Faculty Publications. 178.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/microbio_facpub/178
Notes/Citation Information
© The Author(s) 2023