“Swab Team” in the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak containment among healthcare workers

Abstract

Introduction: To analyze the virus spread among Sassari Hospital staff in the first Covid-19 wave and the impact of the Swab Team, a multidisciplinary task force entitled of nasopharyngeal swab collection and testing. Methodology: Nasopharyngeal swabs from HCWs between March 6 and May 28 2020 are evaluated. Results: 4919 SARS-CoV-2 tests were performed on 3521 operators. Nurses and doctors are the categories at highest risk. After the Swab Team institution, the average number of swabs raised from 47/day to 86/day (p = 0.007). Positive samples decreased from 18.6% to 1.7% (p < 0.0001). Conclusions: The Swab Team is effective in increasing the cases tested and in reducing the reporting time. Procedure standardization reduces the risk for all the subjects involved (no transmission among swab team members, nor during the sample collection).