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

García, Inés Suárez; López, María José Martínez de Aramayona; Vicente, Alberto Sáez; Abascal, Paloma Lobo

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.