SARS-CoV-2 screening among healthcare workers in a local Health Department of North-Western Italy

Abstract

Between October 2020 and December 2020, 1,466 healthcare workers were screened for the presence of Sars-Cov-2 infection in a Local Health Department of the Piedmont region, North-Western Italy, using a Real-Time RT PCR based technique. Mean age was 46.1 ± 11.3 years and female were 77%. We found 234 positive cases (16%): mean age was 45.9 ± 11.1 years and 73% were female. The most common symptoms were cough, hyposmia and ageusia. Asymptomatic subjects were 57%. Our data further underline the importance of an active COVID-19 screening in the healthcare workers population regardless of symptoms or of a clear infection exposure.

Keywords

• Covid-19
• Sars-CoV-2
• screening
• healthcare workers
• epidemiology
• Italy