Frontiers in Pediatrics (Jun 2022)

Tracing COVID-19 Source of Infection Among Health Personnel in a Pediatric Hospital

  • Daniela de la Rosa-Zamboni,
  • Fernando Ortega-Riosvelasco,
  • Nadia González-García,
  • Ana Estela Gamiño-Arroyo,
  • Guillermo Alejandro Espinosa-González,
  • Juan Manuel Valladares-Wagner,
  • Araceli Saldívar-Flores,
  • Olivia Aguilar-Guzmán,
  • Juan Carlos Sanchez-Pujol,
  • Briseida López-Martínez,
  • Mónica Villa-Guillén,
  • Israel Parra-Ortega,
  • Lourdes María del Carmen Jamaica-Balderas,
  • Juan José Luis Sienra-Monge,
  • Ana Carmen Guerrero-Díaz

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fped.2022.897113
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 10

Abstract

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Health personnel (HP) have been universally recognized as especially susceptible to COVID-19. In Mexico, our home country, HP has one of the highest death rates from the disease. From the beginning of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, an office for initial attention for HP and a call center were established at a COVID-19 national reference pediatric hospital, aimed at early detection of COVID-19 cases and stopping local transmission. The detection and call center implementation and operation, and tracing methodology are described here. A total of 1,042 HP were evaluated, with 221 positive cases identified (7.7% of all HP currently working and 26% of the HP tested). Community contagion was most prevalent (46%), followed by other HP (27%), household (14%), and hospitalized patients (13%). Clusters and contact network analysis are discussed. This is one of the first reports that address the details of the implementation process of contact tracing in a pediatric hospital from the perspective of a hybrid hospital with COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 areas.

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