Clinical course and exposure characteristics of Covid-19 confirmed healthcare personnel at the lung center of the philippines

Abstract

This was a retrospective, descriptive cohort study done among covid-19 confirmed healthcare personnel of a Covid-19 designated hospital in the Philippines, detected using conventional RT-PCR and SARSCOV-2 Gene Expert XPress

A total of 141 health care personnel at Lung Center of the Philippines were noted to have tested positive at least once for covid-19. Fifty percent were females and 49.6  percent were males. Mean age was at 37 years old while Median age was at 33. Thirteen percent had at least one underlying illness, most common of which was hypertension. Ninety five percent of infected healthcare personnel were non-smokers. Forty seven percent provided direct care and or had access to covid-confirmed patients within the hospital, whereas 53 percent were assigned to non-covid units. Eighty percent of all covid-19 cases involving healthcare personnel were categorized as having the mild form of disease upon consult.  Fifty three percent of these were asymptomatic carriers, screened only through scheduled monthly routine testing, Moreover 29% percent of these asymptomatic carriers eventually developed mild symptoms of myalgia, colds, headache, dizziness, non-productive cough at an average of 5 days after the result of swab test and were re-classified as presymptomatic. Thirty nine percent were admitted, 26% sent to a designated quarantine facility and only 35% were sent to self-quarantine at their respective own homes. Transmission routes identified recorded were 41% community-acquired, 30 % from direct patient cotact, 20% from co-worker and 8 % with unknown transmission source. All study subjects had favorable outcome.