COVID-19 infections among HCWs exposed to a patient with a delayed diagnosis of COVID-19

Meghan A Baker; Chanu Rhee; Karen Fiumara; Carin Bennett-Rizzo; Robert Tucker; Sarah A Williams; Paige Wickner; Jennifer Beloff; Casey McGrath; Alexa Poulton; Michael Klompas

doi:10.1017/ice.2020.256

COVID-19 infections among HCWs exposed to a patient with a delayed diagnosis of COVID-19

Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol. 2020 Sep;41(9):1075-1076. doi: 10.1017/ice.2020.256. Epub 2020 May 27.

Authors

Meghan A Baker^{1

2

3}, Chanu Rhee^{1

2

3}, Karen Fiumara³, Carin Bennett-Rizzo⁴, Robert Tucker³, Sarah A Williams³, Paige Wickner^{3

5}, Jennifer Beloff³, Casey McGrath³, Alexa Poulton³, Michael Klompas^{1

2

3}

Affiliations

¹ Division of Infectious Diseases, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts.
² Department of Population Medicine, Harvard Medical School/Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute, Boston, Massachusetts.
³ Department of Quality and Safety, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts.
⁴ Department of Occupational Health, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts.
⁵ Division of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts.

Abstract

We report on COVID-19 risk among HCWs exposed to a patient diagnosed with COVID-19 on day 13 of hospitalization. There were 44 HCWs exposed to the patient before contact and droplet precautions were implemented: of these, 2 of 44 (5%) developed COVID-19 potentially attributable to the exposure.

Publication types

Case Reports

MeSH terms

Aged
Betacoronavirus* / isolation & purification
COVID-19
COVID-19 Testing
Clinical Laboratory Techniques
Coronavirus Infections / diagnosis
Coronavirus Infections / prevention & control
Coronavirus Infections / transmission*
Delayed Diagnosis*
Health Personnel*
Hospitalization
Humans
Infection Control / instrumentation
Infection Control / methods
Infectious Disease Transmission, Patient-to-Professional / statistics & numerical data*
Male
Massachusetts
Occupational Diseases* / diagnosis
Occupational Diseases* / prevention & control
Pandemics / prevention & control
Personal Protective Equipment
Pneumonia, Viral / diagnosis
Pneumonia, Viral / prevention & control
Pneumonia, Viral / transmission*
SARS-CoV-2