Transmission of COVID-19 to Health Care Personnel During Exposures to a Hospitalized Patient — Solano County, California, February 2020

Details

• Journal Article:
  Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR)
• Personal Author:
  Acosta, Meileen ; Epson, Erin ; Heinzerling, Amy ; Jain, Seema ; Magill, Shelley ; Perkins, Kiran M. ; Resseger, Heather ; Scheuer, Tara ; Stuckey, Matthew J. ; Verani, Jennifer R. ; Xu, Kerui
• Description:
  On February 26, 2020, the first U.S. case of community-acquired coronaVirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was confirmed in a patient hospitalized in Solano County, California (1). The patient was initially evaluated at hospital A on February 15; at that time, COVID-19 was not suspected, as the patient denied travel or contact with symptomatic persons. During a 4-day hospitalization, the patient was managed with standard precautions and underwent multiple aerosol-generating procedures (AGPs), including nebulizer treatments, bilevel positive airway pressure (BiPAP) ventilation, endotracheal intubation, and bronchoscopy. Several days after the patient's transfer to hospital B, a real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (real-time RT-PCR) test for SARS-CoV-2 returned positive. Among 121 hospital A health care personnel (HCP) who were exposed to the patient, 43 (35.5%) developed symptoms during the 14 days after exposure and were tested for SARS-CoV-2; three had positive test results and were among the first known cases of probable occupational Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 to HCP in the United States Little is known about specific risk factors for SARS-CoV-2 Transmission in health care settings. To better characterize and compare exposures among HCP who did and did not develop COVID-19, standardized interviews were conducted with 37 hospital A HCP who were tested for SARS-CoV-2, including the three who had positive test results. Performing physical examinations and exposure to the patient during nebulizer treatments were more common among HCP with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 than among those without COVID-19; HCP with COVID-19 also had exposures of longer duration to the patient. Because Transmission-based precautions were not in use, no HCP wore personal protective equipment (PPE) recommended for COVID-19 patient care during contact with the index patient. Health care facilities should emphasize early recognition and isolation of patients with possible COVID-19 and use of recommended PPE to minimize unprotected, high-risk HCP exposures and protect the health care workforce.
• Subjects:
  Betacoronavirus Coronavirus COVID-19 Full Report Health Personnel Hospitalization Infectious Disease Transmission, Patient-to-Professional Occupational Exposure Pandemics Personal Protective Equipment Personnel, Hospital Pneumonia, Viral Risk Assessment Safety

  More +
• Source:
  MMWR Morbidity Mortal Weekly Rep. 69(15):472-476
• Series:
  Weekly Report: Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR)
• ISSN:
  0149-2195 (print) ; 1545-861X (digital)
• Publisher:
  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (U.S.)
• Pubmed ID:
  32298249
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC7755059
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  California ; OSHA Region 9
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  5 pdf pages
• Contributor:
  Davis, Laura ; Davis, Shai ; Jones-Espy, Sheka ; Kirnig, Denise ; Matyas, Bela ; Naramore, Sara ; Ntui, Asundep ; Oduni, Bridget ; Richards, Jayleen ; Souza, Stacy ; Wu, Christine ; Brewer, Aimee ; Brocato, Nicole ; Duncan, Traci ; Kaufman, Seth ; Cohen, Stuart H. ; Martin, Carla S. ; Stockman, Lauren ; Tecle, Selam ; Chu, Victoria ; Dubray, Christine ; Duca, Lindsey ; Garcia, Alberto ; Geller, Andrew ; Harvey, R. Reid ; Hicks, Joseph ; Mayer, Oren ; Yousaf, Anna
• Volume:
  69
• Issue:
  15
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20066535
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR)
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:66f48bda0524304c64b9be5d0ef0aee2501ba7cd22cee0f0d3361d632a6ac70f0c860290678968c5852cccf17b14be512ba9764f35bb3e3e74061e0f58fd1efd
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/100094/cdc_100094_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 102.22 KB ]