Much more health care professionals are catching COVID-19 at work than ever thought

Yesterday, victorian government Release long-awaited figure Shows the percentage of state healthcare workers who caught COVID-19 at work.

Andrew Wilson, Chief Medical Officer of Victoria Said Yesterday, 70-80% of healthcare workers diagnosed with COVID-19 were infected at work. that is Compared to 22% On the first wave.

This number is shocking and tragic, equivalent to at least 1,600 people being infected at work. This indicates that occupational exposure of health care workers to the virus that causes COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, has led to risk management failure in many workplaces, including within and across hospitals. This is because it is shown. Elderly care..

This problem is basically Occupational health And Safety issues Not just an infectious disease problem. This means that occupational health and safety professionals essentially need to be involved in recommendations and guidance to governments and employers.

What else did the report find?

In this report, infections among healthcare workers were found to be greatest in co-care patients with COVID-19 (called “cohorts”) and were greatest in areas where healthcare workers gathered, such as in tea rooms. I understand.

Other contributing factors were the increased risks associated with donning and donning personal protective equipment (PPE) (don and doffing), staff moving between medical facilities, and poor ventilation due to poor ventilation.

According to the report, health care workers in elderly care account for about two-fifths of infectious diseases and hospital workers for about one-third.

However, no details are provided. These include the actual number of infected healthcare workers at work, a detailed breakdown of the categories of infected healthcare workers, and their age range and gender.

We also do not know the severity of the infectious disease among health care workers (number of people hospitalized in the ICU, hospitalized, or dead).

How big is this?

The number of healthcare workers infected with COVID-19 in Victoria is 2,799.. This results in an average of 43 new cases every day for 7 days.

This means that while the total number of new cases in the state continues to decline, healthcare worker infections account for approximately 30% of new cases each day.

It is essential to control the number of new infections in health care workers, not only for the sustainability of the health care system, but also to reduce the overall number of cases.

As the total number of healthcare worker infections increases, Key group Leading doctors and nurses have asked the government to produce data on the number of health workers infected at work and a breakdown of the data by health worker type, age, location, and severity.

Yesterday the government released its much-awaited release analysis..

What to do about it?

In light of the report, the Victorian Government has established a new health care worker infection control and well-being task force.

This is an important step forward and hopefully includes representatives from all expert groups, especially occupational health and safety efforts.

Data from The beginning of the year, And certainly previous experience with SARS (Severe acute respiratory syndrome) Has already provided a blueprint for how to protect today’s healthcare professionals.

This blueprint includes implementing a system of hazard management measures (called a hierarchy of management models) in all healthcare environments, using professionals in the field of occupational safety and health, including occupational hygienists. I will.

The government report also outlines plans to develop a ventilated, heated marquee-type tent for workers to spend their breaks. This is also good news. This recognizes the poor airflow contribution to SARS-CoV-2 transmission.

The planned introduction of PPE “spotters” in the workplace is also positive, but more detail is needed in order to understand exactly what they do.

This will hopefully relieve pressure on staffing at work and ensure proper fitting and removal of PPE.

How about a fit test mask?

The report also contained a surprising announcement that the government plans to conduct a ventilator compliance test.

Testing the suitability of ventilators such as the N95 Face Mask and the training of staff to use them is an important part of workplace safety in any industry. Required as part of Australian Standard AS 1715.

So you don’t have to trial Fit test. This is evident from experience in other industries where workers are at risk, such as asbestos and dangerous fumes in the laboratory.

All you need is immediate Implementation We carry out fit testing and training to ensure that our healthcare professionals ensure that the mask fits properly and that no virus can enter. This is especially important for women. Many reports report that standard respirator sizes do not fit properly.

The government should do more

A government report acknowledges the possible spread of aerosols as a mechanism of SARS-COV-2 transmission. Therefore, we commissioned the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services to conduct an investigation aimed at investigating aerosols and their spread to the surface.

You don’t have to wait for the results of this study. The government can act now and take the next steps to immediately change the PPE guidelines for healthcare professionals.

of Victorian PPE Guidelines for Healthcare Professionals Universal PPE designed to protect health care workers from aerosols when caring for suspected or positive COVID-19 patients is not yet recommended.

The guidelines instead recommend PPE to protect against droplet penetration (such as a surgical mask) in situations where a COVID-19 person has a severe cough.

Unfortunately, National leadership Advice for healthcare professionals caring for suspected or positive COVID-19 patients has not changed. In addition, universal aerosol precautions PPE (including ventilators) are not recommended when health care providers care for patients with COVID-19.

These guidelines should be urgently updated to protect health care workers.

There is also an urgent need for a comprehensive, publicly accessible state and national registry of healthcare worker infections that provides regularly updated distributed data on healthcare. worker Infection.

This is essential and allows us to continue to address the seriousness of the problem and implement immediate preventive strategies.

Finally, the problem of present occupational exposure health care worker All of these changes need to be made immediately as SARS-CoV-2 has been approved.

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