tetano
Editor, Senior Moderator
J Korean Med Sci
. 2020 Dec 28;35(50):e431.
doi: 10.3346/jkms.2020.35.e431.
Risk of COVID-19 Transmission from Infected Outpatients to Healthcare Workers in an Outpatient Clinic
Hyemin Chung[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Eun Ok Kim[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Sung Han Kim[SUP] 1 2 [/SUP], Jiwon Jung[SUP] 1 3 [/SUP]
Affiliations
Abstract
From January to September 2020, we conducted contact-tracing for confirmed coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients who visited our outpatient clinic to evaluate the risk of COVID-19 transmission from infected patients to healthcare workers (HCWs). COVID-19 was diagnosed in 8 outpatients. Per the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) polymerase chain reaction test results, none of the 317 HCWs who came in contact had a confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis (0.00%; 95% confidence interval, 0.00%-0.01%). This low rate of transmission from infected outpatients to HCWs suggests that standard precaution such as using surgical mask and hand hygiene protects HCWs from SARS-CoV-2 in a low-risk, outpatient clinic setting.
Keywords: COVID-19; Healthcare Workers; Outpatient; SARS-CoV-2.
. 2020 Dec 28;35(50):e431.
doi: 10.3346/jkms.2020.35.e431.
Risk of COVID-19 Transmission from Infected Outpatients to Healthcare Workers in an Outpatient Clinic
Hyemin Chung[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Eun Ok Kim[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Sung Han Kim[SUP] 1 2 [/SUP], Jiwon Jung[SUP] 1 3 [/SUP]
Affiliations
- PMID: 33372425
- DOI: 10.3346/jkms.2020.35.e431
Abstract
From January to September 2020, we conducted contact-tracing for confirmed coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients who visited our outpatient clinic to evaluate the risk of COVID-19 transmission from infected patients to healthcare workers (HCWs). COVID-19 was diagnosed in 8 outpatients. Per the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) polymerase chain reaction test results, none of the 317 HCWs who came in contact had a confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis (0.00%; 95% confidence interval, 0.00%-0.01%). This low rate of transmission from infected outpatients to HCWs suggests that standard precaution such as using surgical mask and hand hygiene protects HCWs from SARS-CoV-2 in a low-risk, outpatient clinic setting.
Keywords: COVID-19; Healthcare Workers; Outpatient; SARS-CoV-2.