1. Epidemiology and Global Health
  2. Medicine

Effective control of SARS-CoV-2 transmission between healthcare workers during a period of diminished community prevalence of COVID-19

  1. Nick K Jones
  2. Lucy Rivett
  3. Dominic Sparkes
  4. Sally Forrest
  5. Sushmita Sridhar
  6. Jamie Young
  7. Joana Pereira-Dias
  8. Claire Cormie
  9. Harmeet Gill
  10. Nicola Reynolds
  11. Michelle Wantoch
  12. Matthew Routledge
  13. Ben Warne
  14. Jack Levy
  15. William David Córdova Jiménez
  16. Fathima Nisha Begum Samad
  17. Chris McNicholas
  18. Mark Ferris
  19. Jane Gray
  20. Michael Gill
  21. The CITIID-NIHR COVID-19 BioResource Collaboration
  22. Martin D Curran
  23. Stewart Fuller
  24. Afzal Chaudhry
  25. Ashley Shaw
  26. John R Bradley
  27. Gregory J Hannon
  28. Ian G Goodfellow
  29. Gordon Dougan
  30. Kenneth GC Smith
  31. Paul J Lehner
  32. Giles Wright
  33. Nicholas J Matheson
  34. Stephen Baker
  35. Michael P Weekes  Is a corresponding author
  1. Department of Infectious Diseases, Cambridge University NHS Hospitals Foundation Trust, United Kingdom
  2. Clinical Microbiology & Public Health Laboratory, Public Health England, United Kingdom
  3. Department of Medicine, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
  4. Cambridge Institute of Therapeutic Immunology & Infectious Disease (CITIID), Jeffrey Cheah Biomedical Centre, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
  5. Wellcome Sanger Institute, United Kingdom
  6. Academic Department of Medical Genetics, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
  7. Wellcome-MRC Cambridge Stem Cell Institute, Jeffrey Cheah Biomedical Centre, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
  8. Wellcome - MRC Cambridge Stem Cell Institute, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
  9. Department of Haematology, School of Clinical Medicine, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
  10. Institute for Manufacturing, Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
  11. Improvement and Transformation Team, Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, United Kingdom
  12. Occupational Health and Wellbeing, Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, United Kingdom
  13. Cancer Research United Kingdom Cambridge Institute, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
  14. National Institutes for Health Research Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre, United Kingdom
  15. Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, United Kingdom
  16. National Institutes for Health Research Cambridge, Clinical Research Facility, United Kingdom
  17. Division of Virology, Department of Pathology, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
  18. NHS Blood and Transplant, United Kingdom
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.59391
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Cite this article
  1. Nick K Jones
  2. Lucy Rivett
  3. Dominic Sparkes
  4. Sally Forrest
  5. Sushmita Sridhar
  6. Jamie Young
  7. Joana Pereira-Dias
  8. Claire Cormie
  9. Harmeet Gill
  10. Nicola Reynolds
  11. Michelle Wantoch
  12. Matthew Routledge
  13. Ben Warne
  14. Jack Levy
  15. William David Córdova Jiménez
  16. Fathima Nisha Begum Samad
  17. Chris McNicholas
  18. Mark Ferris
  19. Jane Gray
  20. Michael Gill
  21. The CITIID-NIHR COVID-19 BioResource Collaboration
  22. Martin D Curran
  23. Stewart Fuller
  24. Afzal Chaudhry
  25. Ashley Shaw
  26. John R Bradley
  27. Gregory J Hannon
  28. Ian G Goodfellow
  29. Gordon Dougan
  30. Kenneth GC Smith
  31. Paul J Lehner
  32. Giles Wright
  33. Nicholas J Matheson
  34. Stephen Baker
  35. Michael P Weekes
(2020)
Effective control of SARS-CoV-2 transmission between healthcare workers during a period of diminished community prevalence of COVID-19
eLife 9:e59391.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.59391
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Abstract

Previously, we showed that 3% (31/1032)of asymptomatic healthcare workers (HCWs) from a large teaching hospital in Cambridge, UK, tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 in April 2020. About 15% (26/169) HCWs with symptoms of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) also tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 (Rivett et al., 2020). Here, we show that the proportion of both asymptomatic and symptomatic HCWs testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 rapidly declined to near-zero between 25th April and 24th May 2020, corresponding to a decline in patient admissions with COVID-19 during the ongoing UK ‘lockdown’. These data demonstrate how infection prevention and control measures including staff testing may help prevent hospitals from becoming independent ‘hubs’ of SARS-CoV-2 transmission, and illustrate how, with appropriate precautions, organizations in other sectors may be able to resume on-site work safely.

Introduction

The role of nosocomial transmission of SARS-CoV-2 has been highlighted by recent evidence suggesting that 20% of SARS-CoV-2 infections among patients in UK hospitals and up to 89% of infections among HCWs may have originated in hospitals (Evans et al., 2020; Iacobucci, 2020). Since the introduction of ‘lockdown’ in the UK, community transmission rates of SARS-CoV-2 have generally declined (Public Health England (PHE), 2020). Conversely, concerns have been raised that hospitals could become independent ‘hubs’ for ongoing SARS-CoV-2 transmission between patients and HCWs, which would effectively prolong the epidemic (Iacobucci, 2020). In this context, the evolution of the epidemic curves of a hospital’s symptomatic and asymptomatic workforce has not been well described.

We recently initiated a comprehensive HCW screening programme for SARS-CoV-2 in a large teaching hospital in Cambridge, UK. Over a 3-week period from 6th to 24th April 2020, 3% (31/1032) HCWs in the asymptomatic screening arm, 15.4% (26/169) HCWs in the symptomatic screening arm, and 7.7% (4/52) contacts in the symptomatic household contact screening arm tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 (Rivett et al., 2020). Our data from the asymptomatic screening arm were consistent with the results of Shields et al. (Shields et al., 2020). Over the next 4 weeks from 25th April to 24th May 2020, we performed a further 3388 additional tests. Here, we present these longitudinal data, in the context of the hospital patient population and wider local community.

Results

Testing for SARS-CoV-2 RNA was performed with real-time RT-PCR using throat and nose swab samples of HCWs from Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (CUHNFT) and their symptomatic household contacts. Over the new study period (25th April to 24th May 2020), 2611 additional tests were performed in the HCW asymptomatic screening arm, 555 additional tests in the HCW symptomatic screening arm, and 216 additional tests in the HCW household contact screening arm. A further six tests did not have a clearly recorded arm of origin. Over the entire study period, the median age of HCWs and their household contacts was 36.5 and 35.5 years, respectively. About 68.4% were female and 31.6% were male. Of the individuals testing positive over the entire study period, the median age of HCWs and their household contacts was 32 and 47 years, respectively. About 77.9% of all positive tests were from females and 22.1% from males. Table 1 summarizes the total number of HCWs testing positive through either arm of the screening programme, according to the job role. A comparison of the proportions of hospital employees from each job role that tested positive through the HCW symptomatic screening arm revealed no statistically significant difference (Pearson’s chi-square test p=0.419). Reasonable comparison of the proportions testing positive through the HCW asymptomatic screening arm was not possible due to non-random sampling of different areas of the hospital, meaning some job roles had been more frequently targeted for asymptomatic screening than others.

Table 1
Combined data for SARS-CoV-2 RNA positive HCWs by role and screening arm, from the present study and our previous study (Rivett et al., 2020).

Difference in proportions of HCWs testing positive through the symptomatic screening arm was analysed using Pearson’s chi-square test.

RoleHCW asymptomatic screening armHCW symptomatic screening armTotal number of hospital employees
Nurse25193621
Healthcare assistant1481734
Doctor861871
Cleaners23560
Radiographer21217
Radiology support worker0135
Physiotherapist10116

  1. Overall, 360 individuals underwent repeat testing, either as part of the asymptomatic screening programme, or for other reasons as previously described (Rivett et al., 2020). The median turnaround time from sample arrival in the laboratory to final verification was 18 hr 45 min. Positive results were called out on the same day, with negative results emailed within 24 hr.

Between 25th April and 24th May 2020, a total of 34 new positive tests were reported. In the HCW symptomatic and HCW symptomatic household contact screening arms combined (reflecting all individuals with self-reported symptoms at the time of testing), 13/771 (1.7%) tests were positive, which was significantly lower than 30/221 (13%) in the original study period (Fisher’s exact test p<0.0001). In the HCW asymptomatic screening arm, 21/2611 (0.8%) tests were positive, which again was significantly lower than 31/1032 (3%) in the original study period (Fisher’s exact test p<0.0001). As we previously observed (Rivett et al., 2020), individuals captured in the HCW asymptomatic screening arm were generally asymptomatic at the time of screening; however, these individuals could be divided into subgroups. In the first subgroup, 8/21 (38%) HCWs had no symptoms at all. Of these, 5/8 (63%) remained entirely asymptomatic 5–7 weeks after their positive test, whereas 2/8 (25%) developed symptoms 24–48 hr after testing. One HCW could not be contacted to obtain further history. In the second subgroup, 6/21 (29%) had retrospectively experienced some symptoms prior to screening. Of these, 5/6 (83%) had symptoms with a high pre-test probability of COVID-19 (Rivett et al., 2020) commencing >7 days prior to screening, of whom 3/5 had appropriately self-isolated then returned to work, and 1/5 was tested shortly after developing symptoms. 1/6 (17%) had symptoms with a low pre-test probability of COVID-19 (Rivett et al., 2020) commencing <7 days prior to screening and had not self-isolated. In the third subgroup, 7/21 (33%) were detected through repeat sampling of HCW who previously tested positive. Of these, 4/7 (57%) were tested to determine their suitability to return to work with severely immunocompromised/immunosuppressed patients, as dictated by UK national guidance (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), 2020). The remaining 3/7 (43%) were from HCWs tested incidentally for the second time in the asymptomatic HCW screening programme. The median interval between serial positive tests was 16.5 days (IQR 9.5–19.5). All cases were attributable to prolonged SARS-CoV-2 RNA detection from a single infection, rather than re-infection. Our approach to patients with repeatedly positive SARS-CoV-2 PCR tests is described in the Methods.

The fraction of positive tests among the HCW asymptomatic, and HCW symptomatic and household contact screening groups combined varied over time (Figure 1A, Table 2). In particular, during the last 2 weeks of the study period (11th to 24th May 2020), we identified only four positive SARS-CoV-2 samples from 2016 tests performed, two from the HCW asymptomatic and two from the HCW symptomatic/symptomatic household contact arms. This fall in positive HCW tests mirrored the decline in both patients testing positive at CUHNFT and those tested throughout the wider region (Figure 1B). Similar trends were observed in a smaller cohort study of HCWs in London (Treibel et al., 2020).

Figure 1
Download asset Open asset
Trends in positive SARS-CoV-2 PCR tests among HCWs, hospital patients and the wider community over time.

(a) Positive SARS-CoV-2 tests for asymptomatic and symptomatic screening arms by week. (b) Total HCW SARS-CoV-2 tests in CUHNFT performed by week. (c) Total positive SARS-CoV-2 patient tests in Cambridge University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (CUHNFT) by week. (d) Total positive SARS-CoV-2 tests in the East of England (EOE) by week.

Figure 1—source data 1

Source data for trends in SARS-CoV-2 PCR positive HCWs, hospital patients and individuals in the wider community.

https://cdn.elifesciences.org/articles/59391/elife-59391-fig1-data1-v3.xlsx
Table 2
Positive tests and total number of SARS-CoV-2 tests performed in each screening arm categorised according to week since starting the healthcare worker testing programme (6th April–24th May 2020).
Week commencing
6th April13th April20th April27th April4th May11th May18th MayTotal
HCW asymptomatic screening arm4/12120/3837/52911/5508/4831/7381/84052/3644

(1.4%)
HCW symptomatic screening arm1/1514/6011/957/1193/1040/1642/16838/725

(5.2%)
HCW symptomatic household contacts1/73/180/260/621/500/510/535/267

(1.8%)
Unknown0/00/20/130/00/40/10/10/21
All6/143
(4.1%)		37/463
(7.9%)		18/663
(2.7%)		18/731
(2.4%)		12/641
(1.8%)		1/954
(0.1%)		3/1062
(0.2%)		95/4657
(2%)

In our original study between 6th and 24th April 2020, we described in detail two clusters of HCW infections (Rivett et al., 2020). From 25th April to 24th May 2020, we detected one additional cluster on a general medical ward with a separate area for patients with proven COVID-19 and another area for those without. This was identified through targeted screening of the ward over a 24 hr period from 4th to 5th May 2020, in response to four staff testing positive through the HCW symptomatic arm of the screening programme from 27th to 30th April 2020. Reactive screening of a further 40 staff from the same ward identified a further three positive asymptomatic HCWs. In addition, a further two HCWs tested positive in an asymptomatic screen of 30 individuals from a closely related clinical area (designated for non-COVID patients) on 6th May 2020.

Discussion

Our data demonstrate a dramatic fall in the prevalence of symptomatic and asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection among HCWs in our hospital during the study period. On average, the number of secondary infections among HCWs arising from each infected HCW (effectively, the reproduction number (R) for SARS-CoV-2 transmission between HCWs) must therefore be <1.

As well as an acquisition from other HCWs, infections among HCWs may also be acquired from patients, as well as other individuals outside the hospital. Our study period coincided with a decline in the rate of infection across our local community, and our data are consistent with a reduction in transmission within the hospital, a reduction in community-based acquisition of infection by HCWs, or (most likely) a combination of both. In the absence of detailed epidemiological data, it is not possible to formally differentiate between these possibilities or determine their relative effect sizes. Nonetheless, our identification of HCW infection clusters in specific areas of the hospital highlighted the potential for workplace acquisition of SARS-CoV-2, which may lead to self-sustaining outbreaks if left uninterrupted (Rivett et al., 2020; Meredeth et al., 2020). For each of these clusters, timely identification of HCW infection proved effective in terminating chains of hospital transmission between staff, preventing ongoing nosocomial infection.

With the incidence of infection having fallen significantly in hospitalised patients, HCWs and the wider community, many hospitals across the UK and further afield have been afforded precious time to build the infrastructure necessary to establish comprehensive screening programmes in anticipation of a possible second epidemic peak. For hospitals already operating newly established screening programmes, the challenge now is to up-scale to the point that screening can occur at a frequency that permits pre-symptomatic capture of as close to 100% of all new infections as possible. This approach will enable staff to be removed from the workplace at the time of peak infectivity (He et al., 2020). The minimum screening frequency required needs to be carefully modelled, with recent estimates suggesting the need for weekly testing to prevent 16–33% of onward transmission from HCWs, depending on the time taken for results to be reported, and another study estimating the need for daily screening to prevent 65% of HCW-to-HCW transmission events (Evans et al., 2020; Grassly et al., 2020). In practice, we have observed good results in our hospital with a current frequency of asymptomatic screening every 2–4 weeks. Those being screened are prioritised by anticipated ward-based exposure to COVID-19, with additional targeted screens triggered by excess staff sickness or the identification of symptomatic cases on specific wards (Rivett et al., 2020). In addition to asymptomatic screening, testing of symptomatic HCWs is essential for preventing excessive erosion of the hospital workforce by self-isolation on the basis of symptoms alone, and testing of symptomatic HCW household contacts negates the need for unnecessary self-quarantine periods for co-habiting HCWs. We found uptake to the HCW symptomatic household contact screening arm of our programme to be notably lower than the HCW symptomatic arm despite regular communications to advertise the service within CUHNFT. This lack of uptake may reflect a lack of awareness that symptomatic non-HCWs were eligible for testing, provided they shared a household with a hospital employee. Many non-hospital employees may also have been more inclined to attend national testing centres or be less aware of the spectrum of COVID-19 symptoms.

Importantly, our data demonstrate that CUHNFT was not acting as an independent ‘hub’ for ongoing COVID-19 transmission among HCWs. The absence of nosocomial transmission likely reflects the combined efficacy of HCW testing, stringent prospective, and reactive infection prevention and control measures, and appropriate social distancing among the workforce. These findings should give reassurance to both hospital staff and patients that healthcare facilities remain safe places to give and receive care. Furthermore, since CUHNFT, with approximately 11,000 staff members (many of whom are based in the hospital) is a major regional employer, we predict that comparable organisations in other sectors may also be able to resume on-site work safely by instigating similar precautions.

Materials and methods

Staff screening protocols

View detailed protocol

We previously described protocols for staff screening, sample collection, laboratory processing, and results reporting in detail (Rivett et al., 2020). These methods remained unchanged throughout this study period. Two parallel streams of entry into the testing programme included (i) HCW symptomatic, and HCW symptomatic household contact screening arms and (ii) an HCW asymptomatic screening arm. In the former, any patient-facing or non-patient-facing HCW could voluntarily refer themselves or a household contact, should they develop symptoms suggestive of COVID-19. In the latter, HCWs could volunteer to take part in a rolling programme of testing for all patient-facing and non-patient-facing staff working in defined clinical areas thought to be at risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission. Testing was performed (i) at temporary on-site ‘Pods’; (ii) via self-swabbing kits delivered to HCWs in their area of work. All individuals in each arm of the programme performed a self-swab at the back of the throat then the nasal cavity, followed by RNA extraction and amplification using real-time RT-PCR (Sridhar et al., 2020). Cluster investigation was initiated when three or more HCWs working in the same clinical area tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 in 1 week .

Management of HCW with repeat positive tests

Request a detailed protocol

Current National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines require a negative test before returning to work with immunocompromised patients (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), 2020). In accordance with the UK national guidance, individuals with repeat positive screens following a minimum period of 7 days self-isolation were advised to continue working if they were not scheduled to come into close contact with heavily immunocompromised patients, provided they remained asymptomatic (UK Government, 2020). This approach to managing repeat positive screens is further supported by recent data from the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which showed no clear evidence of onward transmission to the contacts of 285 repeat-positive individuals, 108 of whom had samples taken for attempted viral culture, which was universally unsuccessful (Korea Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (KCDC), 2020). Additional small studies have also demonstrated an inability to culture virus from clinical samples obtained later than 8 days after symptom onset, suggesting prolonged detection of viral RNA is unlikely to indicate an ongoing risk of transmission (Wölfel et al., 2020; Bullard et al., 2020).

Data extraction and analysis

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Swab result data for HCWs and patients were extracted directly from the hospital-laboratory interface software, Epic (Verona, WI) and from SARS-CoV-2 point of care testing. Data for SARS-CoV-2 infections from the local community were extracted from Public Health England’s Data Dashboard (Public Health England (PHE), 2020). Data were collated using Microsoft Excel, and figures produced with GraphPad Prism (GraphPad Software, La Jolla, CA). Fisher’s exact test was used to compare the proportion of HCWs testing positive in this study period to that of our previous study period (Rivett et al., 2020). Pearson’s chi-square test was used for comparison of the proportions of HCWs testing positive in each job role.

Data availability

All data generated or analysed during this study are included in the manuscript and supporting files.

References

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Article and author information

Author details

  1. Nick K Jones

    1. Department of Infectious Diseases, Cambridge University NHS Hospitals Foundation Trust, Cambridge, United Kingdom
    2. Clinical Microbiology & Public Health Laboratory, Public Health England, Cambridge, United Kingdom
    3. Department of Medicine, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
    4. Cambridge Institute of Therapeutic Immunology & Infectious Disease (CITIID), Jeffrey Cheah Biomedical Centre, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
    Contribution
    Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Writing - original draft, Project administration, Writing - review and editing
    Contributed equally with
    Lucy Rivett, Dominic Sparkes and Sally Forrest
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0003-4475-7761

  2. Lucy Rivett

    1. Department of Infectious Diseases, Cambridge University NHS Hospitals Foundation Trust, Cambridge, United Kingdom
    2. Clinical Microbiology & Public Health Laboratory, Public Health England, Cambridge, United Kingdom
    Contribution
    Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Writing - original draft, Project administration, Writing - review and editing
    Contributed equally with
    Nick K Jones, Dominic Sparkes and Sally Forrest
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared

  3. Dominic Sparkes

    1. Department of Infectious Diseases, Cambridge University NHS Hospitals Foundation Trust, Cambridge, United Kingdom
    2. Clinical Microbiology & Public Health Laboratory, Public Health England, Cambridge, United Kingdom
    Contribution
    Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Writing - original draft, Project administration, Writing - review and editing
    Contributed equally with
    Nick K Jones, Lucy Rivett and Sally Forrest
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared

  4. Sally Forrest

    1. Department of Medicine, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
    2. Cambridge Institute of Therapeutic Immunology & Infectious Disease (CITIID), Jeffrey Cheah Biomedical Centre, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
    Contribution
    Data curation, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Writing - review and editing
    Contributed equally with
    Nick K Jones, Lucy Rivett and Dominic Sparkes
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared

  5. Sushmita Sridhar

    1. Department of Medicine, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
    2. Cambridge Institute of Therapeutic Immunology & Infectious Disease (CITIID), Jeffrey Cheah Biomedical Centre, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
    3. Wellcome Sanger Institute, Hinxton, United Kingdom
    Contribution
    Data curation, Investigation, Methodology, Writing - review and editing
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0001-7453-7482

  6. Jamie Young

    Academic Department of Medical Genetics, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
    Contribution
    Data curation, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Writing - review and editing
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared

  7. Joana Pereira-Dias

    1. Department of Medicine, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
    2. Cambridge Institute of Therapeutic Immunology & Infectious Disease (CITIID), Jeffrey Cheah Biomedical Centre, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
    Contribution
    Data curation, Investigation, Methodology, Writing - review and editing
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared

  8. Claire Cormie

    1. Department of Medicine, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
    2. Cambridge Institute of Therapeutic Immunology & Infectious Disease (CITIID), Jeffrey Cheah Biomedical Centre, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
    Contribution
    Data curation, Investigation, Methodology, Writing - review and editing
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared

  9. Harmeet Gill

    1. Department of Medicine, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
    2. Cambridge Institute of Therapeutic Immunology & Infectious Disease (CITIID), Jeffrey Cheah Biomedical Centre, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
    Contribution
    Resources, Data curation, Investigation, Methodology, Writing - review and editing
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared

  10. Nicola Reynolds

    Wellcome-MRC Cambridge Stem Cell Institute, Jeffrey Cheah Biomedical Centre, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
    Contribution
    Data curation, Investigation, Methodology, Writing - review and editing
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared

  11. Michelle Wantoch

    1. Wellcome - MRC Cambridge Stem Cell Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
    2. Department of Haematology, School of Clinical Medicine, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
    Contribution
    Data curation, Investigation, Methodology, Writing - review and editing
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared

  12. Matthew Routledge

    1. Department of Infectious Diseases, Cambridge University NHS Hospitals Foundation Trust, Cambridge, United Kingdom
    2. Clinical Microbiology & Public Health Laboratory, Public Health England, Cambridge, United Kingdom
    Contribution
    Resources, Data curation, Methodology, Project administration, Writing - review and editing
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared

  13. Ben Warne

    1. Department of Infectious Diseases, Cambridge University NHS Hospitals Foundation Trust, Cambridge, United Kingdom
    2. Cambridge Institute of Therapeutic Immunology & Infectious Disease (CITIID), Jeffrey Cheah Biomedical Centre, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
    Contribution
    Data curation, Methodology, Writing - review and editing
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared

  14. Jack Levy

    Institute for Manufacturing, Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
    Contribution
    Data curation, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Writing - review and editing
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared

  15. William David Córdova Jiménez

    Institute for Manufacturing, Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
    Contribution
    Data curation, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Writing - review and editing
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared

  16. Fathima Nisha Begum Samad

    Institute for Manufacturing, Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
    Contribution
    Data curation, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Writing - review and editing
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared

  17. Chris McNicholas

    Improvement and Transformation Team, Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Cambridge, United Kingdom
    Contribution
    Data curation, Software, Formal analysis, Writing - review and editing
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared

  18. Mark Ferris

    Occupational Health and Wellbeing, Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Cambridge, United Kingdom
    Contribution
    Resources, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Writing - review and editing
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared

  19. Jane Gray

    Cancer Research United Kingdom Cambridge Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
    Contribution
    Data curation, Investigation, Methodology, Writing - review and editing
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared

  20. Michael Gill

    Cancer Research United Kingdom Cambridge Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
    Contribution
    Data curation, Investigation, Methodology, Writing - review and editing
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared

  21. The CITIID-NIHR COVID-19 BioResource Collaboration

    1. Stephen Baker
    2. John Bradley
    3. Gordon Dougan
    4. Ian Goodfellow
    5. Ravi Gupta
    6. Paul J Lehner
    7. Paul A Lyons
    8. Nicholas J Matheson
    9. Kenneth GC Smith
    10. M Estee Torok
    11. Mark Toshner
    12. Michael P Weekes
    13. Nicholas K Jones
    14. Lucy Rivett
    15. Matthew Routledge
    16. Dominic Sparkes
    17. Ben Warne
    18. Claire Cormie
    19. Sally Forrest
    20. Harmeet Gill
    21. Iain Kean
    22. Joana Pereira-Dias
    23. Nicola Reynolds
    24. Sushmita Sridhar
    25. Michelle Wantoch
    26. Jamie Young
    27. Sarah Caddy
    28. Laura Caller
    29. Theresa Feltwell
    30. Grant Hall
    31. William Hamilton
    32. Myra Hosmillo
    33. Charlotte Houldcroft
    34. Aminu Jahun
    35. Fahad Khokhar
    36. Luke Meredith
    37. Anna Yakovleva
    38. Helen Butcher
    39. Daniela Caputo
    40. Debra Clapham-Riley
    41. Helen Dolling
    42. Anita Furlong
    43. Barbara Graves
    44. Emma Le Gresley
    45. Nathalie Kingston
    46. Sofia Papadia
    47. Hannah Stark
    48. Kathleen E Stirrups
    49. Jennifer Webster
    50. Joanna Calder
    51. Julie Harris
    52. Sarah Hewitt
    53. Jane Kennet
    54. Anne Meadows
    55. Rebecca Rastall
    56. Criona O Brien
    57. Jo Price
    58. Cherry Publico
    59. Jane Rowlands
    60. Valentina Ruffolo
    61. Hugo Tordesillas
    62. Michael Gill
    63. Jane Gray
    64. Greg Hannon
    65. Karen Brookes
    66. Laura Canna
    67. Isabel Cruz
    68. Katie Dempsey
    69. Anne Elmer
    70. Naidine Escoffery
    71. Stewart Fuller
    72. Heather Jones
    73. Carla Ribeiro
    74. Caroline Saunders
    75. Angela Wright
    76. Rutendo Nyagumbo
    77. Anne Roberts
    78. Ashlea Bucke
    79. Simone Hargreaves
    80. Danielle Johnson
    81. Aileen Narcorda
    82. Debbie Read
    83. Christian Sparke
    84. Lucy Worboys
    85. Kirsty Lagadu
    86. Lenette Mactavous
    87. Tim Gould
    88. Tim Raine
    89. Ashley Shaw
    90. Claire Mather
    91. Nicola Ramenatte
    92. Anne-Laure Vallier
    93. Mary Kasanicki
    94. Penelope-Jane Eames
    95. Chris McNicholas
    96. Lisa Thake
    97. Neil Bartholomew
    98. Nick Brown
    99. Martin Curran
    100. Surendra Parmar
    101. Hongyi Zhang
    102. Ailsa Bowring
    103. Mark Ferris
    104. Geraldine Martell
    105. Natalie Quinnell
    106. Giles Wright
    107. Jo Wright
    108. Helen Murphy
    109. Benjamin J Dunmore
    110. Ekaterina Legchenko
    111. Stefan Gräf
    112. Christopher Huang
    113. Josh Hodgson
    114. Kelvin Hunter
    115. Jennifer Martin
    116. Federica Mescia
    117. Ciara ODonnell
    118. Linda Pointon
    119. Joy Shih
    120. Rachel Sutcliffe
    121. Tobias Tilly
    122. Zhen Tong
    123. Carmen Treacy
    124. Jennifer Wood
    125. Laura Bergamaschi
    126. Ariana Betancourt
    127. Georgie Bowyer
    128. Aloka De Sa
    129. Maddie Epping
    130. Andrew Hinch
    131. Oisin Huhn
    132. Isobel Jarvis
    133. Daniel Lewis
    134. Joe Marsden
    135. Simon McCallum
    136. Francescsa Nice
    137. Ommar Omarjee
    138. Marianne Perera
    139. Nika Romashova
    140. Mateusz Strezlecki
    141. Natalia Savoinykh Yarkoni
    142. Lori Turner
    143. Barrie Bailey
    144. Afzal Chaudhry
    145. Rachel Doughton
    146. Chris Workman
    147. Caroline Trotter
    148. William David
    149. Cordova Jiménez
    150. Jack Levy
    151. Fatima NB Samad

  22. Martin D Curran

    Clinical Microbiology & Public Health Laboratory, Public Health England, Cambridge, United Kingdom
    Contribution
    Resources, Data curation, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Writing - review and editing
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared

  23. Stewart Fuller

    National Institutes for Health Research Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre, Cambridge, United Kingdom
    Contribution
    Resources, Data curation, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Writing - review and editing
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared

  24. Afzal Chaudhry

    Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Cambridge, United Kingdom
    Contribution
    Resources, Data curation, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Writing - review and editing
    Competing interests
    Afzal Chaudhry reports grants from Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre at CUHNFT, during the conduct of the study.

  25. Ashley Shaw

    Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Cambridge, United Kingdom
    Contribution
    Resources, Data curation, Investigation, Methodology, Writing - review and editing
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared

  26. John R Bradley

    1. Department of Medicine, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
    2. National Institutes for Health Research Cambridge, Clinical Research Facility, Cambridge, United Kingdom
    Contribution
    Conceptualization, Resources, Data curation, Investigation, Methodology, Writing - review and editing
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared

  27. Gregory J Hannon

    Cancer Research United Kingdom Cambridge Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
    Contribution
    Resources, Data curation, Supervision, Investigation, Methodology, Writing - review and editing
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0003-4021-3898

  28. Ian G Goodfellow

    Division of Virology, Department of Pathology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
    Contribution
    Data curation, Investigation, Methodology, Writing - review and editing
    Competing interests
    Ian Goodfellow reports grants from Wellcome Trust (Senior Research Fellowships), grants from Wellcome Trust (Collaborative Award), grants from Addenbrooke's Charitable Trust, during the conduct of the study.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-9483-510X

  29. Gordon Dougan

    1. Department of Medicine, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
    2. Cambridge Institute of Therapeutic Immunology & Infectious Disease (CITIID), Jeffrey Cheah Biomedical Centre, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
    Contribution
    Conceptualization, Data curation, Supervision, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Writing - review and editing
    Competing interests
    Gordon Dougan reports grants from NIHR, during the conduct of the study.

  30. Kenneth GC Smith

    1. Department of Medicine, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
    2. Cambridge Institute of Therapeutic Immunology & Infectious Disease (CITIID), Jeffrey Cheah Biomedical Centre, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
    Contribution
    Conceptualization, Data curation, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Writing - review and editing
    Competing interests
    Kenneth GC Smith reports grants from Wellcome Trust, during the conduct of the study.

  31. Paul J Lehner

    1. Department of Infectious Diseases, Cambridge University NHS Hospitals Foundation Trust, Cambridge, United Kingdom
    2. Department of Medicine, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
    3. Cambridge Institute of Therapeutic Immunology & Infectious Disease (CITIID), Jeffrey Cheah Biomedical Centre, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
    Contribution
    Conceptualization, Supervision, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Writing - review and editing
    Competing interests
    Paul J Lehner reports grants from Wellcome Trust Principal Research Fellowship, grants from Addenbrooke's Charitable Trust, during the conduct of the study.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0001-9383-1054

  32. Giles Wright

    Occupational Health and Wellbeing, Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Cambridge, United Kingdom
    Contribution
    Conceptualization, Data curation, Supervision, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Writing - review and editing
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared

  33. Nicholas J Matheson

    1. Department of Infectious Diseases, Cambridge University NHS Hospitals Foundation Trust, Cambridge, United Kingdom
    2. Cambridge Institute of Therapeutic Immunology & Infectious Disease (CITIID), Jeffrey Cheah Biomedical Centre, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
    3. NHS Blood and Transplant, Cambridge, United Kingdom
    Contribution
    Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Writing - review and editing
    Contributed equally with
    Stephen Baker and Michael P Weekes
    Competing interests
    Nicholas J Matheson reports grants from Medical Research Council (Clinician Scientist Fellowship), grants from NHS Blood and Transfusion, during the conduct of the study.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-3318-1851

  34. Stephen Baker

    1. Department of Medicine, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
    2. Cambridge Institute of Therapeutic Immunology & Infectious Disease (CITIID), Jeffrey Cheah Biomedical Centre, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
    Contribution
    Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Supervision, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Writing - original draft, Project administration, Writing - review and editing
    Contributed equally with
    Nicholas J Matheson and Michael P Weekes
    Competing interests
    Stephen Baker reports grants from Wellcome Trust (Senior Research Fellowships), from Addenbrooke's Charitable Trust, during the conduct of the study.

  35. Michael P Weekes

    1. Department of Infectious Diseases, Cambridge University NHS Hospitals Foundation Trust, Cambridge, United Kingdom
    2. Department of Medicine, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
    3. Cambridge Institute of Therapeutic Immunology & Infectious Disease (CITIID), Jeffrey Cheah Biomedical Centre, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
    Contribution
    Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Supervision, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Visualization, Methodology, Writing - original draft, Project administration, Writing - review and editing
    Contributed equally with
    Nicholas J Matheson and Stephen Baker
    For correspondence
    mpw1001@cam.ac.uk
    Competing interests
    Michael P Weekes reports grants from Wellcome Trust (Senior Research Fellowships), from Addenbrooke's Charitable Trust, during the conduct of the study.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0003-3196-5545

Funding

Wellcome (108070/Z/15/Z)

  • Michael P Weekes

Wellcome (215515/Z/19/Z)

  • Stephen Baker

Wellcome (207498?Z/17/Z)

  • Ian G Goodfellow

Wellcome (206298/B/17/Z)

  • Ian G Goodfellow

Wellcome (210688/Z/18/Z)

  • Paul J Lehner

Wellcome (200871/Z/16/Z)

  • Kenneth GC Smith

Medical Research Council (MR/P008801/1)

  • Nicholas J Matheson

Addenbrooke's Charitable Trust, Cambridge University Hospitals

  • Ian G Goodfellow
  • Paul J Lehner
  • Stephen Baker
  • Michael P Weekes

NHS Blood and Transplant (WPA15-02)

  • Nicholas J Matheson

National Institute for Health Research

  • Afzal Chaudhry
  • John R Bradley
  • Gordon Dougan

Cancer Research UK (C38317/A24043)

  • Jamie Young

The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellowships 108070/Z/15/Z to MPW, 215515/Z/19/Z to SGB and 207498/Z/17/Z to IGG; Collaborative award 206298/B/17/Z to IGG; Principal Research Fellowship 210688/Z/18/Z to PJL; Investigator Award 200871/Z/16/Z to KGCS; Addenbrooke’s Charitable Trust (to MPW, SGB, and PJL); the Medical Research Council (CSF MR/P008801/1 to NJM); NHS Blood and Transfusion (WPA15-02 to NJM); National Institute for Health Research (Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre at CUHNFT), to JRB, AC and GD, Cancer Research UK (PRECISION Grand Challenge C38317/A24043 award to JY).

The CITIID-NIHR COVID-19 BioResource Collaboration 

Principal Investigators: Stephen Baker, John Bradley, Gordon Dougan, Ian Goodfellow, Ravi Gupta, Paul J Lehner, Paul A Lyons, Nicholas J Matheson, Kenneth GC Smith, M Estee Torok, Mark Toshner, Michael P Weekes

Infectious Diseases Department: Nicholas K Jones, Lucy Rivett, Matthew Routledge, Dominic Sparkes, Ben Warne

SARS-CoV-2 testing team: Claire Cormie, Sally Forrest, Harmeet Gill, Iain Kean, Joana Pereira-Dias, Nicola Reynolds, Sushmita Sridhar, Michelle Wantoch, Jamie Young

COG-UK Cambridge Sequencing Team: Sarah Caddy, Laura Caller, Theresa Feltwell, Grant Hall, William Hamilton, Myra Hosmillo, Charlotte Houldcroft, Aminu Jahun, Fahad Khokhar, Luke Meredith, Anna Yakovleva

NIHR BioResource: Helen Butcher, Daniela Caputo, Debra Clapham-Riley, Helen Dolling, Anita Furlong, Barbara Graves, Emma Le Gresley, Nathalie Kingston, Sofia Papadia, Hannah Stark, Kathleen E Stirrups, Jennifer Webster

Research nurses: Joanna Calder, Julie Harris, Sarah Hewitt, Jane Kennet, Anne Meadows, Rebecca Rastall, Criona O,Brien, Jo Price, Cherry Publico, Jane Rowlands, Valentina Ruffolo, Hugo Tordesillas

CRUK: Michael Gill, Jane Gray, Greg Hannon

NIHR Cambridge Clinical Research Facility: Karen Brookes, Laura Canna, Isabel Cruz, Katie Dempsey, Anne Elmer, Naidine Escoffery, Stewart Fuller, Heather Jones, Carla Ribeiro, Caroline Saunders, Angela Wright 

Cambridge Cancer Trial Centre: Rutendo Nyagumbo, Anne Roberts

Clinical Research Network Eastern: Ashlea Bucke, Simone Hargreaves, Danielle Johnson, Aileen Narcorda, Debbie Read, Christian Sparke, Lucy Worboys

Administrative staff, CUHNFT: Kirsty Lagadu, Lenette Mactavous

CUHNFT NHS Foundation Trust: Tim Gould, Tim Raine, Ashley Shaw

Cambridge Cancer Trials Centre: Claire Mather, Nicola Ramenatte, Anne-Laure Vallier

Legal/Ethics: Mary Kasanicki

CUHNFT Improvement and Transformation Team: Penelope-Jane Eames, Chris McNicholas, Lisa Thake

Clinical Microbiology & Public Health Laboratory (PHE): Neil Bartholomew, Nick Brown, Martin Curran, Surendra Parmar, Hongyi Zhang

Occupational Health: Ailsa Bowring, Mark Ferris, Geraldine Martell, Natalie Quinnell, Giles Wright, Jo Wright

Health and Safety: Helen Murphy

Department of Medicine Sample Logistics: Benjamin J Dunmore, Ekaterina Legchenko, Stefan Gräf, Christopher Huang, Josh Hodgson, Kelvin Hunter, Jennifer Martin, Federica Mescia, Ciara O’Donnell, Linda Pointon, Joy Shih, Rachel Sutcliffe, Tobias Tilly, Zhen Tong, Carmen Treacy, Jennifer Wood

Department of Medicine Sample Processing and Acquisition: Laura Bergamaschi, Ariana Betancourt, Georgie Bowyer, Aloka De Sa, Maddie Epping, Andrew Hinch, Oisin Huhn, Isobel Jarvis, Daniel Lewis, Joe Marsden, Simon McCallum, Francescsa Nice, Ommar Omarjee, Marianne Perera, Nika Romashova, Mateusz Strezlecki, Natalia Savoinykh Yarkoni, Lori Turner

Epic team/other computing support: Barrie Bailey, Afzal Chaudhry, Rachel Doughton, Chris Workman

Statistics/modelling: Caroline Trotter

Department of Engineering: William David Cordova Jiménez, Jack Levy, Fatima NB Samad

Ethics

Human subjects: As a study of healthcare-associated infections, this investigation is exempt from requiring ethical approval under Section 251 of the NHS Act 2006 (see also the NHS Health Research Authority algorithm, available at http://www.hra-decisiontools.org.uk/research/, which concludes that no formal ethical approval is required). Our study was performed as a service evaluation of the Cambridge Universith Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust screening programme. The service provided was not changed in any way in order to undertake this evaluation.

Copyright

© 2020, Jones et al.

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.

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  1. Nick K Jones
  2. Lucy Rivett
  3. Dominic Sparkes
  4. Sally Forrest
  5. Sushmita Sridhar
  6. Jamie Young
  7. Joana Pereira-Dias
  8. Claire Cormie
  9. Harmeet Gill
  10. Nicola Reynolds
  11. Michelle Wantoch
  12. Matthew Routledge
  13. Ben Warne
  14. Jack Levy
  15. William David Córdova Jiménez
  16. Fathima Nisha Begum Samad
  17. Chris McNicholas
  18. Mark Ferris
  19. Jane Gray
  20. Michael Gill
  21. The CITIID-NIHR COVID-19 BioResource Collaboration
  22. Martin D Curran
  23. Stewart Fuller
  24. Afzal Chaudhry
  25. Ashley Shaw
  26. John R Bradley
  27. Gregory J Hannon
  28. Ian G Goodfellow
  29. Gordon Dougan
  30. Kenneth GC Smith
  31. Paul J Lehner
  32. Giles Wright
  33. Nicholas J Matheson
  34. Stephen Baker
  35. Michael P Weekes
(2020)
Effective control of SARS-CoV-2 transmission between healthcare workers during a period of diminished community prevalence of COVID-19
eLife 9:e59391.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.59391

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https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.59391

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Further reading

    1. Epidemiology and Global Health
    2. Microbiology and Infectious Disease

    Efficacy of FFP3 respirators for prevention of SARS-CoV-2 infection in healthcare workers

    Mark Ferris, Rebecca Ferris ... Michael P Weekes
    Research Advance Updated

    Background:

    Respiratory protective equipment recommended in the UK for healthcare workers (HCWs) caring for patients with COVID-19 comprises a fluid-resistant surgical mask (FRSM), except in the context of aerosol generating procedures (AGPs). We previously demonstrated frequent pauci- and asymptomatic severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection HCWs during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK, using a comprehensive PCR-based HCW screening programme (Rivett et al., 2020; Jones et al., 2020).

    Methods:

    Here, we use observational data and mathematical modelling to analyse infection rates amongst HCWs working on ‘red’ (coronavirus disease 2019, COVID-19) and ‘green’ (non-COVID-19) wards during the second wave of the pandemic, before and after the substitution of filtering face piece 3 (FFP3) respirators for FRSMs.

    Results:

    Whilst using FRSMs, HCWs working on red wards faced an approximately 31-fold (and at least fivefold) increased risk of direct, ward-based infection. Conversely, after changing to FFP3 respirators, this risk was significantly reduced (52–100% protection).

    Conclusions:

    FFP3 respirators may therefore provide more effective protection than FRSMs for HCWs caring for patients with COVID-19, whether or not AGPs are undertaken.

    Funding:

    Wellcome Trust, Medical Research Council, Addenbrooke’s Charitable Trust, NIHR Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre, NHS Blood and Transfusion, UKRI.

    1. Epidemiology and Global Health
    2. Microbiology and Infectious Disease

    Single-dose BNT162b2 vaccine protects against asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection

    Nick K Jones, Lucy Rivett ... Michael P Weekes
    Research Advance Updated

    The BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 vaccine (Pfizer-BioNTech) is being utilised internationally for mass COVID-19 vaccination. Evidence of single-dose protection against symptomatic disease has encouraged some countries to opt for delayed booster doses of BNT162b2, but the effect of this strategy on rates of asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection remains unknown. We previously demonstrated frequent pauci- and asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection amongst healthcare workers (HCWs) during the UK’s first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, using a comprehensive PCR-based HCW screening programme (Rivett et al., 2020; Jones et al., 2020). Here, we evaluate the effect of first-dose BNT162b2 vaccination on test positivity rates and find a fourfold reduction in asymptomatic infection amongst HCWs ≥12 days post-vaccination. These data provide real-world evidence of short-term protection against asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection following a single dose of BNT162b2 vaccine, suggesting that mass first-dose vaccination will reduce SARS-CoV-2 transmission, as well as the burden of COVID-19 disease.

    1. Epidemiology and Global Health
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    Screening of healthcare workers for SARS-CoV-2 highlights the role of asymptomatic carriage in COVID-19 transmission

    Lucy Rivett, Sushmita Sridhar ... Michael P Weekes
    Research Article Updated

    Significant differences exist in the availability of healthcare worker (HCW) SARS-CoV-2 testing between countries, and existing programmes focus on screening symptomatic rather than asymptomatic staff. Over a 3 week period (April 2020), 1032 asymptomatic HCWs were screened for SARS-CoV-2 in a large UK teaching hospital. Symptomatic staff and symptomatic household contacts were additionally tested. Real-time RT-PCR was used to detect viral RNA from a throat+nose self-swab. 3% of HCWs in the asymptomatic screening group tested positive for SARS-CoV-2. 17/30 (57%) were truly asymptomatic/pauci-symptomatic. 12/30 (40%) had experienced symptoms compatible with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)>7 days prior to testing, most self-isolating, returning well. Clusters of HCW infection were discovered on two independent wards. Viral genome sequencing showed that the majority of HCWs had the dominant lineage B∙1. Our data demonstrates the utility of comprehensive screening of HCWs with minimal or no symptoms. This approach will be critical for protecting patients and hospital staff.

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