Becker's Clinical Quality & Infection Control

11 INFECTION CONTROL More than 13% of Northwell Health staff have COVID-19 antibodies, serology tests show By Gabrielle Masson L arge-scale testing of front-line healthcare provid- ers at New Hyde Park, N.Y.-based Northwell Health found 13 percent of staff had COVID-19 antibodies, according to research published Aug. 6 in JAMA. Of Northwell's 72,000 employees, 40,329 were screened for antibodies between April 20 and June 23. North- well Health COVID-19 Research Consortium, along with Manhasset, N.Y.-based Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research, analyzed the data and found the employee se- rology tests showed more than 13 percent of healthcare providers tested positive for antibodies. Healthcare personnel reported demographics, work loca- tion and level of suspicion of virus exposure. High levels of suspicion and prior positive diagnostic testing were stronger indicators of positive results. "As researchers, it's important to us to share findings from our antibody testing, and we are pleased to know that the personal protective equipment we used was successful in protecting the vast majority of our staff," said Karina Davidson, PhD, professor and senior vice president at the Feinstein Institutes. n Even with PPE, healthcare workers at higher risk for COVID-19, study finds By Kelly Gooch A study of front-line healthcare workers in the United Kingdom and U.S. found they were at higher risk of infection than the general public — even with adequate personal protective equip- ment, according to a study published in e Lancet Public Health. e study — led by researchers at Bos- ton-based Massachusetts General Hospital and King's College London — examined self-re- ported data from the COVID Symptom Study smartphone app from March 24 to April 23. Among roughly 2 million community individuals and 99,795 front-line healthcare workers who entered data into the app, researchers recorded 5,545 incident reports of a positive COVID-19 test, according to the study. Researchers found front-line healthcare workers were at least three times more likely than the general public to report a positive COVID-19 test. at's despite accounting for risk factors such as differences in testing frequency. In post-hoc analyses, researchers found that Black, Asian and minority ethnic healthcare workers were at least five times as likely to get infected as the non-Hispanic white general community. According to the study, reuse of PPE or inadequate PPE among health- care workers were each also associated with increased infection risk. Although healthcare workers who reported inadequate PPE had the highest risk of infec- tion, increased risk of COVID-19 was evident even among workers who said they had adequate PPE, according to the researchers. "In the UK and the USA, risk of reporting a positive test for COVID-19 was increased among front-line healthcare workers," the study concluded. "Healthcare systems should ensure adequate availability of PPE and develop additional strategies to protect healthcare workers from COVID-19, partic- ularly those from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds." n Fauci: Temperature checks often 'notoriously inaccurate' By Molly Gamble A nthony Fauci, MD, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said the White House and the National Institutes of Health have abandoned temperature checks to screen for COVID-19, according to ABC News. "We have found at the NIH, that it is much much better to just question people when they come in and save the time, because the temperatures are notoriously inaccurate, many times," Dr. Fauci said at an Aug. 13 event with the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. Dr. Fauci noted that temperature checks are especially unreliable on hot summer days. His own temperature has read as high as 103 degrees before getting into air conditioning. In workplaces, the Occupational Safety and Health Admin- istration has said temperature checks are most beneficial when employees take their temperature at home and act accordingly based on the result versus employers admin- istering tests to employees upon arrival at the work site. In schools, the CDC has recommended daily temperature screenings of staff and students if possible, but does not specify whether those tests should be conducted on site or before arriving at the location. n

• Cover