Diligent medical activities of a publicly designated medical institution for infectious diseases pave the way for overcoming COVID-19: A positive message to people working at the cutting edge

Nagano, Tatsuya; Arii, Jun; Nishimura, Mitsuhiro; Yoshida, Naofumi; Iida, Keiji; Nishimura, Yoshihiro; Mori, Yasuko

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), is highly infectious and has spread worldwide. An important factor compounding spread is the infection of medical staff with SARS-CoV-2, which threatens the collapse of the very institutions required to treat COVID-19. The possibility of virus transmission from patients with COVID-19 to medical staff is thus of primary concern. Asymptomatic COVID-19 carriage among hospital staff could also be conceivable to act as a potent source of ongoing transmission. Here we show that, surprisingly, none of the medical staff working at a hospital with COVID-19 patients had IgG antibodies for SARS-CoV-2, indicating that virus transmission from patients to medical staff did not occur in these medical workers. These results show that standard preventive measures against infectious diseases can prevent SARS-CoV-2 exposure in medical staff, and should greatly encourage medical practitioners at the front line of this pandemic.