Hospital cleaners are more infected than ICU staff: Report

Intensivists are more infected with COVID-19 than cleaners and other health care workers in other departments considered to be at low risk, according to a study of several British hospitals at the peak of the pandemic. The chances were much lower.

The study also found that blacks, Asians, and ethnic minorities were almost twice as likely to be infected as their white colleagues.

Following several studies suggesting that race, income, and personal protective equipment (PPE) allocations bias the burden of infection.

The researchers said the results could have been obtained because people working in the intensive care unit (ITU) prioritized the highest levels of masks and other equipment.

“We estimated that intensive care workers were at the highest risk, but ITU workers are relatively well protected compared to other areas,” said Alex Richter, lead author of the University of Birmingham Immunology Professor. Stated.

In research, published in journal rib cage, Researchers have tested over 500 staff The University Hospital Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, which operates multiple hospitals and employs more than 20,000 staff.

All staff were working in late April, when the UK was closed for about a month.

At this time, the Trust has admitted five patients with severe COVID-19. infection Every hour, the ability to perform infection tests is health care worker..

The researchers suggested giving asymptomatic staff two different tests. One is to see if you are currently infected, and the other is to test for antibodies that indicate you have been previously infected with the virus.

The positive rate for SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19 infection, was approximately 2.5% —13 out of 545 —.

The researchers also took blood samples from 516 staff and found that 24% had antibodies to the virus. This was generally 6% in the Midland region of England at the time.

Of the 29 cleaners who participated in the survey, 10 (34.5%) had antibodies that suggested a previous infection.

Percentage with clinicians working in acute care General internal medicine— 33% and 30%, respectively — The lowest percentage of staff working in intensive care (15%, or 9 out of 61 participants).

The authors said it is not clear from observational studies whether the high infection rate among some staff is “high risk of exposure to the virus or high risk of infection if exposed”. ..

“Regardless of the cause, this finding calls for urgent further investigation, especially given the ethnic differences in the results of COVID-19,” they said.

Staff protection

Many studies of General population Minority groups from the United Kingdom and the United States emphasize how likely they are to die of COVID-19 compared to whites.

Study published last month Lancet Public Health Early in the pandemic, the journal found that front-line healthcare workers were more than three times more likely to be virus-positive than the general population, and that the proportion of ethnic minority health care staff was five-fold higher. Did.

Comments on the research rib cageTim Cook, a professor of anesthesia at the University of Bristol, said that people working in intensive care Low risk Than the staff in other parts of the hospital.

He said the availability and type of PPE could be a factor in familiarity with stricter precautions for sterility and infection control in emergency rooms.

He added that recent studies suggested that patients were more infectious at the beginning of their illness and might be less likely to spread the virus by the time they were treated in intensive care. ..

“Patient caregivers in the early stages of illness may be at greater risk, which affects the management of all patient-facing staff in the ward,” he added. It was.

© 2020 AFP