SARS-CoV-2 infection among healthcare workers in a hospital in Madrid, Spain

Abstract:

Aim

The aim of this study was to describe the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of COVID-19 among healthcare workers (HCWs) between February 24 ^th to April 30 ^th, 2020 in a hospital in Madrid, Spain.

Methods

We designed a retrospective cohort study. Cumulative COVID-19 incidence was calculated for all HCWs and categorized according to presumed level of COVID-19 exposure (high, medium and low).

Results

Among 1,911 HCW, 213 (11.1%) had COVID-19 during the study period. Cases increased gradually from March 8 ^th, peaking in March 17 ^th and declining thereafter. The peak of cases among HCWs was reached 14 days before the peak in admitted COVID-19 cases in the hospital. There were no significant differences in the proportion of COVID-19 cases according to level of occupational exposure (p=0.123).

There were 5 departments and 2 professions in which more than 20% of the workers had confirmed COVID-19. We identified temporal clusters in three of these departments and one profession, with most of the cases occurring over a period of less than 5 days.

The prevalence of comorbidities was low and 91.5% of patients had mild or moderate symptoms. Eleven patients were admitted to the hospital and 1 patient needed intensive care. None of the patients died. The median time of sick leave was 20 (IQR: 15 – 26) days.

Conclusions

Our results suggest that HCW-to-HCW transmission accounted for part of the cases. In spite of a low prevalence of comorbidities and a mild clinical course in most cases, COVID-19 caused long periods of sick leave.