Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-2019) Infection among Health Care Workers and Implications for Prevention Measures in a Tertiary Hospital in Wuhan, China

Abstract

Importance: Health care workers (HCWs) have high infection risk owing to treating patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). However, research on their infection risk and clinical characteristics is limited. Objectives: To explore infection risk and clinical characteristics of HCWs with COVID-19 and to discuss possible prevention measures. Design, Setting, and Participants: This single-center case series included 9684 HCWs in Tongji Hospital, Wuhan, China. Data were collected from January 1 to February 9, 2020. Exposures: Confirmed COVID-19. Main Outcomes and Measures: Exposure, epidemiological, and demographic information was collected by a structured questionnaire. Clinical, laboratory, and radiologic information was collected from electronic medical records. A total of 335 medical staff were randomly sampled to estimate the prevalence of subclinical infection among a high-risk, asymptomatic population. Samples from surfaces in health care settings were also collected. Results: Overall, 110 of 9684 HCWs in Tongji Hospital tested positive for COVID-19, with an infection rate of 1.1%. Of them, 70 (71.8%) were women, and they had a median (interquartile range) age of 36.5 (30.0-47.0) years. Seventeen (15.5%) worked in fever clinics or wards, indicating an infection rate of 0.5% (17 of 3110) among first-line HCWs. A total of 93 of 6574 non-first-line HCWs (1.4%) were infected. Non-first-line nurses younger than 45 years were more likely to be infected compared with first-line physicians aged 45 years or older (incident rate ratio, 16.1; 95% CI, 7.1-36.3; P