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Published on: February 16, 2022
Repeated Antigen-Based Rapid Diagnostic Testing for Estimating the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Prevalence from the
Ourania S Kotsiou1,2, Ioannis Pantazopoulos2, Dimitrios Papagiannis3
1Department of Nursing, School of Health Sciences, University of Thessaly, GAIOPOLIS, 41110 Larissa, Greece.
Background:
No previous study has investigated the SARS-CoV-2 prevalence and the changes in the proportion of positive results due to lockdown measures from the angle of workers' vulnerability to coronavirus in Greece. Two community-based programs were implemented to evaluate the SARS-CoV-2 prevalence and investigate if the prevalence changes were significant across various occupations before and one month after lockdown.
Methods:
Following consent, sociodemographic, clinical, and job-related information were recorded. The VivaDiag™ SARS-CoV-2 Antigen Rapid Test was used. Positive results confirmed by a real-time Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction for SARS-COV-2.
Results:
Positive participants were more likely to work in the catering/food sector than negative participants before the lockdown. Lockdown restrictions halved the new cases. No significant differences in the likelihood of being SARS-CoV-2 positive for different job categories were detected during lockdown. The presence of respiratory symptoms was an independent predictor for rapid antigen test positivity; however, one-third of newly diagnosed patients were asymptomatic at both time points.
Conclusions:
The catering/food sector was the most vulnerable to COVID-19 at the pre-lockdown evaluation. We highlight the crucial role of community-based screening with rapid antigen testing to evaluate the potential modes of community transmission and the impact of infection control strategies.
