SARS-COV-2 PCR Test Positive Healthcare Workers and Their Contact Tracing at the Hospital

Many healthcare workers have been infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus. These infected healthcare workers had contacts, some of whom later developed COVID-19. We aim to investigate the risks of contact and infection in different departments and professions in the hospital.

From April 2020 to September 2021, healthcare workers with COVID-19 were investigated from the follow-up files, respectively. The follow-up files included information on healthcare workers with COVID-19, as well as their contacts, contact patterns, and test results after 7 days of contact follow-up. The relationship between the occupations, the departments, COVID-19 patient care, and the contacts' degree, types, and test results was investigated.

A total of 464 healthcare workers were SARS-CoV-2 PCR-positive. While 230 (49.6%) healthcare workers had no contacts, 234 had 1094 contacts. The contact numbers were related to their occupation and department (p 0.028, 0.001). The cleaning staff had the highest contacts per person. Among all contacts, 112 (10.23%) were high risk, and 363 (33.18%) were social contacts. Healthcare workers providing healthcare to COVID-19 patients had a lower risk for high risk and social contacts, and after follow-up, COVID-19 infection (p 0.005, p 0.001, and p 0.017). After social contacts, healthcare workers had more COVID-19 infections than work-related contacts (p 0.00).

COVID-19 was most prevalent among non-healthcare workers. Non-healthcare departments had the highest contact numbers. Social contacts had a higher risk of infection. Social areas, non-healthcare-related workers, and workers who did not provide healthcare to COVID-19 patients had a higher risk of COVID-19.