Prevalence and Clinical Correlates of COVID-19 Outbreak Among Health Care Workers in a Tertiary Level Hospital in Delhi

Abstract

COVID-19 has been shown to spread rapidly among Healthcare Workers (HCWs) and there is an urgent need to find and implement various mitigation strategies for these individuals. In this study, we summarize the epidemiological characteristics of the COVID-19 outbreak among HCWs in a tertiary care hospital and compare various parameters and preventive measures taken by infected and uninfected subjects. A retrospective questionnaire and record-based analysis was carried out to evaluate the epidemiological and clinical parameters of the participants. Preventive strategies such as masking, hand hygiene and use of prophylactic agents were compared for infected and uninfected subjects. Appropriate statistical tests were applied wherever required. The average age of participants in the COVID-19 positive group was 35.9 years and 52.1% of the positive HCWs were symptomatic. Three of these subjects needed hospitalization and one required admission to an intensive care unit. The study found a protective role of full course of prophylactic hydroxychloroquine in treated subjects versus untreated controls (p = 0.021) and benefit of N95 masks over others (p<0.001). Our results did not show any added protection with the use of other strategies (prophylactic vitamin C, D, zinc, betadine gargles, or other home remedies). We observed outbreak control with increased awareness, near universal testing, PPE provision, sanitation drive and promoting social distancing among HCWs. This study highlights the role of hydroxychloroquine prophylaxis, use of N95 mask and effect of early interventions in outbreak mitigation.