Analysis of COVID-19 infection in hospital HCWs

Editor's Note

This study from two university hospitals in the Netherlands finds that healthcare workers (HCWs) on hospital COVID-19 wards are at increased risk for nosocomial COVID-19 infections and play an important role in HCW-to-HCW transmission.

Of 801 hospital HCWs analyzed, 439 worked in patient care for those with COVID-19, 164 worked in patient care for those without COVID-19, and 198 did not work in patient care.

The risk of getting infected with COVID-19 was nearly 4-fold higher in HCWs on COVID-19 wards compared with HCWs not working in patient care.

Phylogenetic and epidemiological analyses found no patient-to-HCW transmission, but there were three potential occurrences of HCW-to-HCW transmission.

The findings suggest that COVID-19 transmission between HCWs needs more consideration in infection prevention practices, the authors say.