Transmission and Risk Factors of COVID-19 among Health Care Workers

Abstract

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) poses a significant occupational risk factor to health care workers (HCWs). As in previous events, this occupational risk amplifies and compounds the adverse impact of the pandemic. We conducted a narrative review summarizing risk factors associated with severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) transmission in HCWs. We searched for original observational studies (including case-control, cross-sectional, prospective and retrospective cohorts) using PubMed, Scopus, and Google Scholar. A total of 22 articles were reviewed, including eligible English articles published between April 2020 and May 2022. Job category, work environment, personal protective equipment (PPE) noncompliance, lack of PPE awareness and training, unvaccinated status, and competing community and household exposures were identified as risk factors for SARS-CoV-2 transmission among HCWs. Effective measures to protect HCWs from SARS-CoV-2 need to account for the identified occupational risk factors. Identifying and understanding COVID-19 risk factors among HCWs must be considered a public health priority for policy makers to mitigate occupational and community transmission in current and future epidemics.

Mpox Virus: Control of In-Hospital Occupational Transmission Experience from a Tertiary Level Hospital in Milan, Italy

“…This reinforces the need to strictly adhere to hospital local, national and international protocols, in order to avoid occupational transmission, especially during an epidemic time, where the working load is particularly heavy, and all personnel is paramount for adequate outbreak response. For instance, this was particularly true for the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic [ 25 ]. The use of protective equipment, according to guidelines that should be provided very rapidly by the local infection control teams, which help clinicians from the very beginning of new outbreaks, is pivotal.…”

“…This might endanger the well-being of workers or result in a loss of workforce, which is paramount to addressing a new emerging pathogen. This was particularly true for the SARS-CoV-2 epidemic, where healthcare providers were at the front of the pandemic and were particularly at risk of being infected [ 25 ]. Policymakers, including local infection control teams, coordinated by regional and national institutions, play a pivotal role in rapidly addressing these risks, by delivering and proposing infection control policies and guiding all healthcare providers on how to correctly prevent further pathogen transmission and avoid occupational infection.…”

COVID-19 Nursing Staff Sizing Technology

“…This perspective constitutes support for management processes promoting the reduction of work overload and a lower rate of illness of workers. 15,16 Thus, the objective of the study was to describe the creation of a software to systematize the process of sizing the nursing team during the COVID-19 pandemic.…”

Updates on the Evaluation, Diagnosis, and New Manifestations of Occupational Lung Disease

“…The detailed review offered by Alghader et al sheds light on this underappreciated aspect of the pandemic. 7 Another emerging area in occupational respiratory disease focuses on the inhalational hazards and adverse outcomes in military veterans who deployed to Southwest Asia, reviewed by Krefft and Zell-Baran. 8 New exposures often occur as new industries develop.…”