Potential SARS-CoV-2 infectiousness among asymptomatic healthcare workers

DOI

A majority of SARS-CoV-2 infections are transmitted from a minority of infected subjects, some of which may be symptomatic or pre-symptomatic. We aimed to quantify potential infectiousness among asymptomatic healthcare workers (HCWs) in relation to prior or later symptomatic disease. We previously (at the onset of the SARS-CoV-2 epidemic) performed a cohort study of SARS-CoV-2 infections among 27,000 healthcare workers (HCWs) at work in the capital region of Sweden. We performed both SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR and serology. Furthermore, the cohort was comprehensively followed for sick leave, both before and after sampling. In the present report, we used the cohort database to quantify potential infectiousness among HCWs at work. Those who had sick leave either before or after sampling were classified as post-symptomatic or pre-symptomatic, whereas the virus-positive subjects with no sick leave were considered asymptomatic. About 0.2% (19/9449) of HCW at work were potentially infectious and pre-symptomatic (later had disease) and 0.17% (16/9449) were potentially infectious and asymptomatic (never had sick leave neither before nor after sampling). Thus, 33% and 28% of all the 57 potentially infectious subjects were pre-symptomatic or asymptomatic, respectively. When a questionnaire was administered to HCWs with past infection, only 10,5% of HCWs had had no indication at all of having had SARS-CoV-2 infection (“truly asymptomatic”). Our findings provide a unique quantification of the different groups of asymptomatic, potentially infectious HCWs.

Identifier
DOI https://doi.org/10.23728/b2share.95b5083125b94044bc7874949b0b475c
Source https://b2share.eudat.eu/records/95b5083125b94044bc7874949b0b475c
Metadata Access https://b2share.eudat.eu/api/oai2d?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=eudatcore&identifier=oai:b2share.eudat.eu:b2rec/95b5083125b94044bc7874949b0b475c
Provenance
Publisher EUDAT B2SHARE
Publication Year 2021
Rights info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
OpenAccess true
Contact miriam.elfstrom(at)ki.se
Representation
Format xlsx
Size 253.3 kB; 1 file
Discipline 5.13.21 → Medicine → Public health