Background: We investigate the mental health status of all the staff members who worked for the designated hospital during the initial stage of COVID-19, so as to understand the severity of mental health problems, and analyze the risk factors.Methods: Through the patients health questionnaire-9(PHQ-9) and panic disorder severity scales(PDSS), we surveyed the status of depression and panic disorder of the staff who participated in the prevention and treatment of COVID-19 in designated hospital in the early stage of epidemic. The data is described by the number of cases (percentage), median and interquartile range. The chi square test was used for categorical variables and the rank sum test was used for continuous variables. The risk factors of severe depression or panic disorder were analyzed by binary logistic regression test.Results: Totally 702 questionnaires were sent out and 694(98.9%) was received and qualified, the median score of PHQ-9 among all the staff was 1 (IQR,0-4), 143(20.6%) of them had depression, 39 (5.6%) had serious depression; the median score of PDSS was 2 (IQR,0-5), 81 (11.7%) of them had panic disorder and 47(6.7%) of them had severe panic disorder; Among the people in different work lines, the first-line staff scored the highest: PHQ-9 score was 4 (0-8); PDSS score was 4 (1-9), which were significantly higher than the second-line and third-line staff (P<0.001). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that the adjusted risk of severe depression in first-line staff was 6.63 fold(P < 0.001); the risk of severe panic disorder was 2.62 fold (P=0.003) higher than that of non-first line group.Conclusions: Many staff in the designated hospital for COVID-19 have mental health problems. Among them, first-line workers are a high-risk group with severe depression and panic disorder, and further psychological intervention is needed for them.

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Healthcare workers (HCWs) are at high risk of occupational exposure to the new pandemic human coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, and are a source of nosocomial transmission in airborne infectious isolation rooms (AIIRs). Here, we performed comprehensive environmental contamination surveillance to evaluate the risk of viral transmission in AIIRs with 115 rooms in three buildings at the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center, Shanghai, during the treatment of 334 patients infected with SARS-CoV-2. The results showed that the risk of airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in AIIRs was low (1.62%, 25/1544) due to the directional airflow and strong environmental hygiene procedures. However, we detected viral RNA on the surface of foot-operated openers and bathroom sinks in AIIRs (viral load: 55.00-3154.50 copies/mL). This might be a source of contamination to connecting corridors and object surfaces through the footwear and gloves used by HCWs. The risk of infection was eliminated by the use of disposable footwear covers and the application of more effective environmental and personal hygiene measures. With the help of effective infection control procedures, none of 290 HCWs was infected when working in the AIIRs at this hospital. This study has provided information pertinent for infection control in AIIRs during the treatment of COVID-19 patients. Keywords SARS-CoV-2 Á COVID-19 Á Nosocomial transmission Á AIIRs Á Environmental sampling Zhi-Gang Song, Yan-Mei Chen and Fan Wu are contributed equally to this work.