Risk for Acquiring Coronavirus Disease Illness among Emergency Medical Service Personnel Exposed to Aerosol-Generating Procedures

Aubrey Brown; Leilani Schwarcz; Catherine R. Counts; Leslie M. Barnard; Betty Y. Yang; Jamie M. Emert; Andrew Latimer; Christopher Drucker; John Lynch; Peter J. Kudenchuk; Michael R. Sayre; Thomas Rea

doi:10.3201/eid2709.210363

Risk for Acquiring Coronavirus Disease Illness among Emergency Medical Service Personnel Exposed to Aerosol-Generating Procedures

Aubrey Brown, Leilani Schwarcz, Catherine R. Counts, Leslie M. Barnard, Betty Y. Yang, Jamie M. Emert, Andrew Latimer, Christopher Drucker, John Lynch, Peter J. Kudenchuk, Michael R. Sayre, Thomas Rea

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

18 Scopus citations

Abstract

We investigated the risk of coronavirus disease (COVID-19)- patients transmitting severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) to emergency medical service (EMS) providers, stratified by aerosol-generating procedures (AGP), in King County, Washington, USA, during February 16-July 31, 2020. We conducted a retrospective cohort investigation using a statewide COVID-19 registry and identified 1,115 encounters, 182 with ≥1 AGP. Overall, COVID-19 incidence among EMS personnel was 0.57 infections/10,000 person-days. Incidence per 10,000 person-days did not differ whether or not infection was attributed to a COVID-19 patient encounter (0.28 vs. 0.59; p>0.05). The 1 case attributed to a COVID-19 patient encounter occurred within an at-risk period and involved an AGP. We observed a very low risk for COVID-19 infection attributable to patient encounters among EMS first responders, supporting clinical strategies that maintain established practices for treating patients in emergency conditions.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	2340-2348
Number of pages	9
Journal	Emerging Infectious Diseases
Volume	27
Issue number	9
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3201/eid2709.210363
State	Published - Sep 1 2021
Externally published	Yes

Keywords

COVID-19
SARS-COV-2
aerosol transmission
aerosol-generating procedures
cardiac arrest
coronavirus disease
emergency medical services
emergency treatment
health occupations
medical first responders
public health
public health readiness
respiratory infections
severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2
viruses
zoonoses

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Epidemiology
Microbiology (medical)
Infectious Diseases

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10.3201/eid2709.210363

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Brown, A., Schwarcz, L., Counts, C. R., Barnard, L. M., Yang, B. Y., Emert, J. M., Latimer, A., Drucker, C., Lynch, J., Kudenchuk, P. J., Sayre, M. R., & Rea, T. (2021). Risk for Acquiring Coronavirus Disease Illness among Emergency Medical Service Personnel Exposed to Aerosol-Generating Procedures. Emerging Infectious Diseases, 27(9), 2340-2348. https://doi.org/10.3201/eid2709.210363

Brown, A, Schwarcz, L, Counts, CR, Barnard, LM, Yang, BY, Emert, JM, Latimer, A, Drucker, C, Lynch, J, Kudenchuk, PJ, Sayre, MR & Rea, T 2021, 'Risk for Acquiring Coronavirus Disease Illness among Emergency Medical Service Personnel Exposed to Aerosol-Generating Procedures', Emerging Infectious Diseases, vol. 27, no. 9, pp. 2340-2348. https://doi.org/10.3201/eid2709.210363

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abstract = "We investigated the risk of coronavirus disease (COVID-19)- patients transmitting severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) to emergency medical service (EMS) providers, stratified by aerosol-generating procedures (AGP), in King County, Washington, USA, during February 16-July 31, 2020. We conducted a retrospective cohort investigation using a statewide COVID-19 registry and identified 1,115 encounters, 182 with ≥1 AGP. Overall, COVID-19 incidence among EMS personnel was 0.57 infections/10,000 person-days. Incidence per 10,000 person-days did not differ whether or not infection was attributed to a COVID-19 patient encounter (0.28 vs. 0.59; p>0.05). The 1 case attributed to a COVID-19 patient encounter occurred within an at-risk period and involved an AGP. We observed a very low risk for COVID-19 infection attributable to patient encounters among EMS first responders, supporting clinical strategies that maintain established practices for treating patients in emergency conditions.",

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Risk for Acquiring Coronavirus Disease Illness among Emergency Medical Service Personnel Exposed to Aerosol-Generating Procedures

Abstract

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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