( Reuters) – A high percentage of COVID-19 infections amongst U.S. health care personnel appear to go undiscovered, according to a report on Monday in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Avoidance.
Between April and June, among more than 3,000 frontline employees in 12 states, approximately 1 in 20 had antibody evidence of a previous COVID-19 infection, however 69%of those infections had actually never been identified.
Among health care employees with antibodies to the novel coronavirus, about one-third did not recall having symptoms in the preceding months, nearly half did not presume that they had actually been infected, and some two-thirds had never ever had a favorable COVID-19 test.
Infections among frontline health care workers may be going undetected, the research study authors say, because some infections might be only minimally symptomatic or asymptomatic and likewise since personnel with signs might not constantly have access to screening.
COVID-19 antibodies were less common amongst workers who reported using a face covering for all patient encounters and more typical amongst those who reported a shortage of individual protective equipment.
The researchers call for more frequent testing of healthcare workers and universal use of face coverings in medical facilities.
SOURCE: https://bit.ly/2DizVKk MMWR, online August 31, 2020.
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