High SARS-CoV-2 Infection Rates Among Special Forces Police Units During the Early Phase of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Ecuador

Abstract

BackgroundAt the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, health workers and first-responders, such as police officers, were in charge of trying to contain a disease that was unknown at that time. The lack of information and the tremendous need to contain new outbreaks put police officers at higher risk.MethodologyA cross-sectional study was conducted to describe SARS-CoV-2 infection rates among Police Special Forces Officers in Quito, Ecuador. In this study, 163 community-dwelling police officers from elite divisions voluntarily participated in our SARS-CoV-2 detection program using reverse transcription quantitative real-time PCR (RT-qPCR).ResultsA total of 20 out of 163 police officers tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, yielding an infection rate of 12.3%. Within this cohort, 10% (2/20) of SARS-CoV-2 positive individuals were potentially super spreaders with viral loads over 108 copies/ul. About 85% of the SARS-CoV-2 positive individuals were asymptomatic and 15% reported mild symptoms related to COVID-19.ConclusionsWe found a high SARS-CoV-2 infection rate within the special forces police officers that, beyond a high health risk for themselves, their families, and coworkers. Our results point out the need for permanent SARS-CoV-2 testing among asymptomatic essential workers and first-responders to avoid local outbreaks and to prevent work-place absenteeism among police special units.

Effects of COVID-19-Associated Infection Control on the Pattern of Infections Imported by German Soldiers and Police Officers Returning from Predominantly Tropical Deployment Sites

“…Apart from soldiers, police officers were shown to be at a particularly high risk of acquiring SARS-CoV-2 infections in studies from Europe, South America and the Indian subcontinent [27][28][29][30]. High occupational exposure risks were considered as a likely explanation [28].…”