No cases of asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection among healthcare staff in a city under lockdown restrictions: lessons to inform 'Operation Moonshot'

Christopher A Martin; David R Jenkins; Prashanth Patel; Charles Goss; Arthur Price; Linda Barton; Pankaj Gupta; Francesco Zaccardi; Nigel J Brunskill; Pranab Haldar; Kamlesh Khunti; Manish Pareek

doi:10.1093/pubmed/fdaa237

No cases of asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection among healthcare staff in a city under lockdown restrictions: lessons to inform 'Operation Moonshot'

J Public Health (Oxf). 2022 Jun 27;44(2):255-258. doi: 10.1093/pubmed/fdaa237.

Authors

Christopher A Martin^{1

2}, David R Jenkins³, Prashanth Patel^{4

5}, Charles Goss⁶, Arthur Price⁷, Linda Barton⁸, Pankaj Gupta^{4

5}, Francesco Zaccardi^{9

10}, Nigel J Brunskill^{5

11}, Pranab Haldar^{1

12

13}, Kamlesh Khunti^{9

13

14}, Manish Pareek^{1

2

13

14}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Respiratory Sciences, University of Leicester, Leicester LE1 7RH, UK.
² Department of Infection and HIV Medicine, University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, Leicester LE1 5WW, UK.
³ Department of Clinical Microbiology, University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, Leicester LE1 5WW, UK.
⁴ Department of Chemical Pathology and Metabolic Diseases, University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, Leicester LE1 5WW, UK.
⁵ Department of Cardiovascular Sciences, University of Leicester, Leicester LE1 7RH, UK.
⁶ Department of Occupational Health, University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, Leicester LE1 5WW, UK.
⁷ Department of Immunology, University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, Leicester LE1 5WW, UK.
⁸ Department of Haematology, University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, Leicester LE1 5WW, UK.
⁹ Diabetes Research Centre, Leicester General Hospital, University of Leicester, Leicester LE5 4PW, UK.
¹⁰ Leicester Real World Evidence Unit, Diabetes Research Centre, Leicester General Hospital, University of Leicester, Leicester LE5 4PW, UK.
¹¹ Department of Nephrology, Leicester General Hospital, Leicester LE5 4PW, UK.
¹² Department of Respiratory Medicine, University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, Leicester LE3 9QP, UK.
¹³ NIHR Leicester Biomedical Research Centre, Leicester LE3 9QP, UK.
¹⁴ NIHR Applied Research Collaboration-East Midlands, Leicester LE5 4PW, UK.

Abstract

Background: Leicester was the first city in the UK to have 'local lockdown' measures imposed in response to high community rates of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) transmission. As part of this response, a directive was issued by NHS England to offer testing of asymptomatic healthcare workers (HCWs) at University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust (UHL) for SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Methods: Between 20 July and 14 August 2020, we invited all HCWs at UHL to attend for SARS-CoV-2 testing by nucleic acid amplification (NAAT). We combined the result of this assay with demographic information from the electronic staff record.

Results: A total of 1150 staff (~8% of the workforce) volunteered. The median age was 46 years (IQR 34-55), 972 (84.5%) were female; 234 (20.4%) were of South Asian and 58 (5.0%) of Black ethnicity; 564 (49.0%) were nurses/healthcare assistants. We found no cases of asymptomatic infection. In comparison, average community test positivity rate in Leicester city was 2.6%.

Conclusions: Within the context of local lockdowns due to high community transmission rates, voluntary testing of asymptomatic staff has low uptake and low yield and thus its premise and cost-effectiveness should be re-considered.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; asymptomatic; healthcare worker; lockdown.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

COVID-19 Testing
COVID-19* / epidemiology
Communicable Disease Control
Delivery of Health Care
Female
Health Personnel
Humans
Infectious Disease Transmission, Patient-to-Professional
Male
Middle Aged
SARS-CoV-2

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding