key: cord-1003390-nd7a9fg7
authors: Jeong, Jordan M.; Radeos, Michael S.; Shee, Brian; Kindschuh, Mark; Sasson, Comilla; Hernandez, Caleb; Braciale, Thomas J.; Freeze, Meagan; Kindschuh, William
title: COVID-19 Seroconversion in Emergency Professionals at an Urban Academic Emergency Department in New York City
date: 2020-06-22
journal: Ann Emerg Med
DOI: 10.1016/j.annemergmed.2020.06.038
sha: f05c0fcc6c1b8f418c4b3f271d10ccf4da12dca5
doc_id: 1003390
cord_uid: nd7a9fg7

nan

Author Contribution: JMJ, MSR, and MK conceived the study. MSR, JMJ, and BS designed the study and performed data collection. MSR oversaw data collection and performed data analysis. CS and WK provided statistical advice on analyzed data and presentation of data. CH, TJB, and MF provided advice and expertise on content. JMJ drafted the manuscript, and all authors contributed significantly to its revision. JMJ takes complete responsibility for the submitted paper.

To the Editor:

While healthcare workers (HCWs) have been recognized as a high-risk group for contracting COVID-19, 1 there are no studies, to our knowledge, that report the rate of COVID-19 seroconversion in emergency professionals. Between February 1, 2020 and April 30, 2020, over 1,000 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 presented to our ED in Brooklyn, New York. As these patients were arriving in overwhelming numbers, there was much uncertainty and concern regarding the risk of infection for emergency professionals. Here we report the rate of COVID-19 seroconversion for emergency professionals at our urban academic emergency department (ED) following this surge, and describe characteristics associated with seroconversion.

In order to better understand the effects of COVID-19 on our ED, we conducted a retrospective review of a quality improvement (QI) database consisting of SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibody test results (Abbott Laboratories, Abbott Park, IL), as well as self-reported demographic, symptomatologic, and occupational characteristics for emergency professionals who were actively working in the adult ED from February through April, 2020. There were 65 emergency professionals who were eligible to be entered into this QI database. A total of 50 (77%) professionals volunteered to receive antibody testing and were included into our study (median We found the overall rate of seroconversion in our emergency professionals to be 46%. Rates for attending physicians, EM residents, and PAs, were 64%, 36%, and 29%, respectively.

Published rates of infection for HCWs are limited, however, a study from the Netherlands reported the prevalence of COVID-19 in all HCWs to be much lower at 6%. 2 Recent antibody testing within New York City (NYC) has estimated the community seroprevalence of COVID-19 to be lower than our findings at 19.9%, 3 further highlighting emergency professionals as a highrisk group.

We also analyzed whether factors such as intubation, hours worked, and symptomatology were associated with COVID-19 seroconversion. Intubation of COVID-19 patients was performed by 65% of seropositive and 59% of seronegative professionals. These findings were not strongly associated with COVID-19 seroconversion (risk ratio [ While our experience is limited to a single ED in NYC, these findings may provide insight into COVID-19 seroconversion among other emergency professionals. Further research is needed to determine the true risk of infection in this group.

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