Low Risk of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Among Patients Exposed to Infected Healthcare Workers

Meghan A Baker; Karen Fiumara; Chanu Rhee; Sarah A Williams; Robert Tucker; Paige Wickner; Andrew Resnick; Michael Klompas

doi:10.1093/cid/ciaa1269

Low Risk of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Among Patients Exposed to Infected Healthcare Workers

Clin Infect Dis. 2021 Oct 5;73(7):e1878-e1880. doi: 10.1093/cid/ciaa1269.

Authors

Meghan A Baker^{1

2

3}, Karen Fiumara³, Chanu Rhee^{1

2

3}, Sarah A Williams³, Robert Tucker³, Paige Wickner^{3

4}, Andrew Resnick³, Michael Klompas^{1

2

3}

Affiliations

¹ Division of Infectious Diseases, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
² Department of Population Medicine, Harvard Medical School/Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
³ Department of Quality and Safety, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
⁴ Division of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

Abstract

Many patients are fearful of acquiring coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in hospitals and clinics. We characterized the risk of COVID-19 among 226 patients exposed to healthcare workers with confirmed COVID-19. One patient may have been infected, suggesting that the risk of COVID-19 transmission from healthcare workers to patients is generally low.

Keywords: COVID; coronavirus; exposure; healthcare worker; transmission.

Publication types

Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

MeSH terms

COVID-19*
Health Personnel
Humans
SARS-CoV-2

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding