Healthcare associated coronavirus disease 2019 among health care workers in Normandy, France: a multi-center study

In the early phase of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) epidemic in France, knowledge of SARS-COV-2 characteristics was limited, and personal protective equipment (PPE) was lacking. Thus, health care workers (HCWs) were exposed to nosocomial transmission. A multicenter regional descriptive study of...

Full description

Saved in:

Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Infection prevention in practice Vol. 3; no. 1; p. 100109
Main Authors:	Thibon, Pascal, Breton, Pierre, Mouet, Audrey, Bidon, Antoine, Haupais, François, Darrigan, Caroline, Gautier, Pauline, Letourneur, Thomas, Perillieux, Emeline, Seguineau, Charles, Thibon, Paul, Henry, Liliane, Ar Gouilh, Meriadeg, Borgey, France, Le Hello, Simon, Allaire, Alexandra, Auclair, Valérie, Krug, Sophie Beuve, Borderan, Guy-Claude, Chauvin, Corine, Dargere, Sylvie, Degallaix, Dominique, Delhomme, Joël, Erouart, Stéphane, Hautemaniere, Alexis, Ionescu, Paul, Le Foulon, François-Xavier, Lefflot, Stéphanie, Lefol-Seillier, Elisabeth, Levallois, Marie-Line, Martel, Mélanie, Michon, Jocelyn, Olliver, Dominique, Thomas-hervieu, Aurélie, Vabret, Astrid, Vaucelle, Carole, Verdon, Renaud
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Elsevier Ltd 01-03-2021 Elsevier
Subjects:	Coronavirus disease 2019 France Health care workers Healthcare associated infections Original Health care workers Coronavirus disease 2019 France Healthcare associated infections
Online Access:	Get full text
Tags:	Add Tag No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!

Description
Summary:	In the early phase of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) epidemic in France, knowledge of SARS-COV-2 characteristics was limited, and personal protective equipment (PPE) was lacking. Thus, health care workers (HCWs) were exposed to nosocomial transmission. A multicenter regional descriptive study of fifty-two heath care facilities covering 30,533 HCWs in western Normandy, France, from March 3 to March 27, 2020, before the incidence threshold of 10/100,000 inhabitants was crossed in the study area. The incidence rate of COVID-19 in HCWs, the attack rates and the serial interval distribution of nosocomial transmission were computed. Demographic characteristics of HCWs, contacts with index cases, and the use of personal protective equipment were collected by a structured questionnaire. The incidence rate of COVID-19 in HCWs was 2.7‰. Among 19 situations (13 clusters >2 cases), 10 were HCW-HCW and 9 patient-HCW transmission, the global attack rate was 13.7% (95% confidence interval, 10.6%–17.3%), and 68 HCWs were involved (10 index cases, with 58 secondary cases). Exposure of secondary cases was only in the presymptomatic phase of the index case in 29% of cases, 48% for HCW-HCW and 10% for patient-HCW transmission (P<0.001). The mean serial interval was 5.1 days (95% CI, 4.2–5.9 days). Preventative measures were not optimal. Our investigation demonstrated that HCWs who were not assigned to the care of COVID-19 patients were not prepared for the arrival of this particularly insidious new virus, which spread rapidly from an often asymptomatic colleague or patient.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 Alexandra Allaire, Valérie Auclair, Sophie Beuve Krug, Guy-Claude Borderan, Corine Chauvin, Sylvie Dargere, Dominique Degallaix, Joël Delhomme, Stéphane Erouart, Alexis Hautemaniere, Paul Ionescu, François-Xavier Le Foulon, Stéphanie Lefflot, Elisabeth Lefol-Seillier, Marie-Line Levallois, Mélanie Martel, Jocelyn Michon, Dominique Olliver, Aurélie Thomas-hervieu, Astrid Vabret, Carole Vaucelle and Renaud Verdon
ISSN:	2590-0889 2590-0889
DOI:	10.1016/j.infpip.2020.100109