Prevalance of COVID-19 Infection Among Staffs in an Urban District Specialist Hospital: 1-Year COVID-19 Experience

Introduction:   
Hospital staffs are at risk for community acquisition as well as potential hospital-acquired infection. Characterizing COVID-19 infection among hospital staff, despite their role as front liners or non-front liners, is important for achieving optimal control of the pandemic.    

Methodology:   
This is a retrospective, single-centred, cross-sectional study. Using data collected from 1st March 2020 until 31st March 2021, we reported the prevalence of COVID-19 infection among staff in Hospital Shah Alam Selangor (HSAS) and describe their demography, clinical characteristics, and outcomes.      

Results:   
There were 57 staff in HSAS who tested positive for COVID-19 during the study period. The mean age was 33.2 years old (SD: 7.552) and the majority were female (36 (63.2%)). Only 5 staff (8.8%) were directly involved in managing COVID-19 patients. Most (46 (80.7%)) were reported to be infected from the community. Thirteen staffs (22.8%) were asymptomatic throughout, whereas 44 staff (77.2%) had at least one symptom on presentation. All infected staff we reported to be stable with no ICU admission or mortalities. Eighteen staff (31.6%) required hospital admission, while 16 (28.1%) were isolated in Quarantine Center. The other 23 staff (40.4%) were given Home Isolation Order.    

Discussion/Conclusion:   
Hospital-acquired infection is generally controllable as long as the staff strictly complies with the SOP. However, the attitude outside the job scope needs to be changed as it is shown from this study that most infections are from the community and if it is labelled as hospital-acquired, it is less likely to occur to those who directly managing the COVID-19 patient.  
 

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