Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) screening system utilizing daily symptom attestation helps identify hospital employees who should be tested to protect patients and coworkers. (10th November 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Kim, Ellen; Morris, Charles A.; Klompas, Michael; Zhang, Haipeng; Landman, Adam B.; Eappen, Sunil; Hopcia, Karen; Hashimoto, Dean M.; Salmasian, Hojjat
• Is Part Of: Infection control and hospital epidemiology. Volume 43:Number 11(2022)
• Page Start: 1656
• Page End: 1660
• Publication Date: 2022-11-10
• Subjects: Nosocomial infections -- Epidemiology -- Periodicals; Health facilities -- Sanitation -- Periodicals; Hospital buildings -- Sanitation -- Periodicals; Cross Infection -- Periodicals; Epidemiology -- Periodicals; Hospitals -- Periodicals; Infection Control -- Periodicals; 614.44
• DOI: 10.1017/ice.2021.461
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0899-823X

Abstract

Abstract: Objective: To investigate the effectiveness of a daily attestation system used by employees of a multi-institutional academic medical center, which comprised of symptom-screening, self-referrals to the Occupational Health Services team, and/or a severe acute respiratory coronavirus virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) test. Design: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of all employee attestations and SARS-CoV-2 tests performed between March and June 2020. Setting: A large multi-institutional academic medical center, including both inpatient and ambulatory settings. Participants: All employees who worked at the study site. Methods: Data were combined from the attestation system (COVIDPass), the employee database, and the electronic health records and were analyzed using descriptive statistics including χ 2, Wilcoxon, and Kruskal-Wallis tests. We investigated whether an association existed between symptomatic attestations by the employees and the employee testing positive for SARS-CoV-2. Results: After data linkage and cleaning, there were 2, 117, 298 attestations submitted by 65, 422 employees between March and June 2020. Most attestations were asymptomatic (99.9%). The most commonly reported symptoms were sore throat (n = 910), runny nose (n = 637), and cough (n = 570). Among the 2, 026 employees who ever attested that they were symptomatic, 905 employees were tested within 14 days of a symptomatic attestation, and 114 (13%) of these tests were positive. The most common symptoms associated with a positive SARS-CoV-2 test were anosmia (23% vs 4%) and fever (46% vs 19%). Conclusions: Daily symptom attestations among healthcare workers identified a handful of employees with COVID-19. Although the number of positive tests was low, attestations may help keep unwell employees off campus to prevent transmissions.