Case report: COVID-19 risk to healthcare workers

Editor's Note

Of 41 healthcare workers who were exposed to aerosol-generating procedures for at least 10 minutes at a distance of 6.5 feet from a patient with severe pneumonia before he was diagnosed with COVID-19, none contracted the disease.

The patient, a middle-aged man with diabetes and hyperlipidemia, was hospitalized in Singapore in February with community acquired pneumonia. He had not traveled in China nor had contact with anyone known to have COVID-19.

The day after admission, he was intubated for respiratory distress and transferred to the ICU. He improved after 3 days of mechanical ventilation and was extubated. On extubation, a nasopharyngeal swab was sent as part of COVID-19 surveillance, and it was positive.

The aerosol-generating procedures the healthcare workers were exposed to included endotracheal intubation, extubation, ventilation, and exposure to aerosols in an open circuit.

The workers were tested for COVID-19 and isolated at home for 2 weeks with daily monitoring for symptoms and temperature measurement. They were tested again at 2 weeks after exposure. None developed symptoms and all tests were negative.

The findings suggest that surgical masks, hand hygiene, and other standard procedures protected the healthcare workers from being infected, the authors say.