Sources of exposure identified through structured interviews of healthcare workers who test positive for severe acute respiratory coronavirus virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2): A prospective analysis at two teaching hospitals

Chanu Rhee; Meghan A Baker; Robert Tucker; Diane Griesbach; Dinah McDonald; Sarah A Williams; Karen Fiumara; Andrew Resnick; Michael Klompas; CDC Prevention Epicenters Program

doi:10.1017/ash.2021.243

Sources of exposure identified through structured interviews of healthcare workers who test positive for severe acute respiratory coronavirus virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2): A prospective analysis at two teaching hospitals

Antimicrob Steward Healthc Epidemiol. 2021 Dec 15;1(1):e65. doi: 10.1017/ash.2021.243. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Chanu Rhee^{1

2

3}, Meghan A Baker^{1

2

3}, Robert Tucker³, Diane Griesbach⁴, Dinah McDonald⁵, Sarah A Williams⁶, Karen Fiumara⁶, Andrew Resnick⁶, Michael Klompas^{1

2

3}; CDC Prevention Epicenters Program

Affiliations

¹ Department of Population Medicine, Harvard Medical School/Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute, Boston, Massachusetts.
² Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts.
³ Infection Control Department, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts.
⁴ Occupational Health Services, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts.
⁵ Occupational Health Services, Brigham and Women's Faulkner Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts.
⁶ Department of Quality and Safety, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts.

Abstract

We interviewed 1,208 healthcare workers with positive SARS-CoV-2 tests between October 2020 and June 2021 to determine likely exposure sources. Overall, 689 (57.0%) had community exposures (479 from household members), 76 (6.3%) had hospital exposures (64 from other employees including 49 despite masking), 11 (0.9%) had community and hospital exposures, and 432 (35.8%) had no identifiable source of exposure.