Positive rate of serology and RT-PCR for COVID-19 among community residents and healthcare workers in Wuhan, China

Abstract

This study aimed to evaluate the infection rate of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) among different populations in Wuhan, China. This cross-sectional survey-based study examined the results of SARS-CoV-2-specific serological tests and RT-PCR tests for 4,454 community residents and 4,614 healthcare workers performed from May 15 to May 29, 2020. The healthcare workers were classified as administrative and logistical staff (n = 1,378), non-first-line healthcare workers (n = 2,630), or first-line healthcare workers (n = 606) according to their frequency of contact with coronavirus disease (COVID-19) patients. The positive rates of SARS-CoV-2-specific IgG, IgM, and RNA were 2.9%, 0.4%, and 0.1% for the community residents and 3.3%, 0.6%, and 0.2% for the healthcare workers, respectively. There were no statistically significant differences between the rates of the two groups. Spearman’s correlation analysis showed that the frequency of contact with COVID-19 patients negatively correlated with the positive rates of RT-PCR (rs = -0.036, P = 0.016), but did not significantly correlate with the positive rates of IgM (rs = -0.006, P = 0.698) or IgG (rs = 0.017, P = 0.239). There was no statistically significant difference between the SARS-CoV-2-specific IgG, IgM, or RNA positive rates of the community residents and those of the healthcare workers. The positive rate of SARS-CoV-2 RNA was lower for the first-line healthcare workers than for the non-firstline healthcare workers and the administrative and logistical staff.