tetano
Editor, Senior Moderator
J Public Health (Oxf)
. 2020 Dec 26;fdaa237.
doi: 10.1093/pubmed/fdaa237. Online ahead of print.
No cases of asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection among healthcare staff in a city under lockdown restrictions: lessons to inform 'Operation Moonshot'
Christopher A Martin[SUP] 1 2 [/SUP], David R Jenkins[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Prashanth Patel[SUP] 4 5 [/SUP], Charles Goss[SUP] 6 [/SUP], Arthur Price[SUP] 7 [/SUP], Linda Barton[SUP] 8 [/SUP], Pankaj Gupta[SUP] 4 5 [/SUP], Francesco Zaccardi[SUP] 9 10 [/SUP], Nigel J Brunskill[SUP] 5 11 [/SUP], Pranab Haldar[SUP] 1 12 13 [/SUP], Kamlesh Khunti[SUP] 9 13 14 [/SUP], Manish Pareek[SUP] 1 2 13 14 [/SUP]
Affiliations
Abstract
Background: Leicester was the first city in the UK to have 'local lockdown' measures imposed in response to high community rates of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) transmission. As part of this response, a directive was issued by NHS England to offer testing of asymptomatic healthcare workers (HCWs) at University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust (UHL) for SARS-CoV-2 infection.
Methods: Between 20 July and 14 August 2020, we invited all HCWs at UHL to attend for SARS-CoV-2 testing by nucleic acid amplification (NAAT). We combined the result of this assay with demographic information from the electronic staff record.
Results: A total of 1150 staff (~8% of the workforce) volunteered. The median age was 46 years (IQR 34-55), 972 (84.5%) were female; 234 (20.4%) were of South Asian and 58 (5.0%) of Black ethnicity; 564 (49.0%) were nurses/healthcare assistants. We found no cases of asymptomatic infection. In comparison, average community test positivity rate in Leicester city was 2.6%.
Conclusions: Within the context of local lockdowns due to high community transmission rates, voluntary testing of asymptomatic staff has low uptake and low yield and thus its premise and cost-effectiveness should be re-considered.
Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; asymptomatic; healthcare worker; lockdown.
. 2020 Dec 26;fdaa237.
doi: 10.1093/pubmed/fdaa237. Online ahead of print.
No cases of asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection among healthcare staff in a city under lockdown restrictions: lessons to inform 'Operation Moonshot'
Christopher A Martin[SUP] 1 2 [/SUP], David R Jenkins[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Prashanth Patel[SUP] 4 5 [/SUP], Charles Goss[SUP] 6 [/SUP], Arthur Price[SUP] 7 [/SUP], Linda Barton[SUP] 8 [/SUP], Pankaj Gupta[SUP] 4 5 [/SUP], Francesco Zaccardi[SUP] 9 10 [/SUP], Nigel J Brunskill[SUP] 5 11 [/SUP], Pranab Haldar[SUP] 1 12 13 [/SUP], Kamlesh Khunti[SUP] 9 13 14 [/SUP], Manish Pareek[SUP] 1 2 13 14 [/SUP]
Affiliations
- PMID: 33367759
- DOI: 10.1093/pubmed/fdaa237
Abstract
Background: Leicester was the first city in the UK to have 'local lockdown' measures imposed in response to high community rates of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) transmission. As part of this response, a directive was issued by NHS England to offer testing of asymptomatic healthcare workers (HCWs) at University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust (UHL) for SARS-CoV-2 infection.
Methods: Between 20 July and 14 August 2020, we invited all HCWs at UHL to attend for SARS-CoV-2 testing by nucleic acid amplification (NAAT). We combined the result of this assay with demographic information from the electronic staff record.
Results: A total of 1150 staff (~8% of the workforce) volunteered. The median age was 46 years (IQR 34-55), 972 (84.5%) were female; 234 (20.4%) were of South Asian and 58 (5.0%) of Black ethnicity; 564 (49.0%) were nurses/healthcare assistants. We found no cases of asymptomatic infection. In comparison, average community test positivity rate in Leicester city was 2.6%.
Conclusions: Within the context of local lockdowns due to high community transmission rates, voluntary testing of asymptomatic staff has low uptake and low yield and thus its premise and cost-effectiveness should be re-considered.
Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; asymptomatic; healthcare worker; lockdown.