COVID-19 among health care workers in Brazil: prevalence and disparities based on respondent-driven sampling

To determine the prevalence and disparities of COVID-19 among health care workers in Brazil.

A survey was conducted among health care workers in five Brazilian cities. Disparities in the prevalence of COVID-19 were analyzed by professional category and region (North/Northeast versus South/Southeast).

The sample was composed of 2,499 health care workers: 601 (24.1%) nursing technicians, 1,095 (43.8%) registered nurses, and 803 (32.1%) physicians. Recruitment and data collection were conducted online from May 21, 2020, to February 10, 2021, using respondent-driven sampling. The overall COVID-19 prevalence was 48.1% (95%CI: 43.4-52.9). The highest COVID-19 prevalence was identified among nursing technicians (52.8%; 95%CI: 44.4-61.0). Nursing technicians reported undergoing fewer PCR and COVID-19 tests compared to physicians. Nursing technicians and registered nurses in the North/Northeast regions who reported COVID-19 symptoms spent much of the first year of the pandemic without access to confirmatory testing. Furthermore, the risk of laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 was significantly lower for all occupational categories in the North and Northeast regions.

COVID-19 rates among health care workers were exceptionally high and non-uniformly distributed. This mirrors the vast socioeconomic, cultural, and political differences and the difficulty in coordinating pandemic control actions in Brazil.