April 20, 2020

Symptom Screening at Illness Onset of Health Care Personnel With SARS-CoV-2 Infection in King County, Washington

Category: Article Summary

Topic: Testing and Treatment

• To assess the spectrum of symptoms at onset of illness among 48 healthcare personnel (HCP) in King County and to evaluate current screening criteria for early detection of COVID-19, the authors find that screening for only fever, cough, shortness of breath or sore throat may have missed 17% of symptomatic HCP, while expanding criteria to include symptoms of muscle aches and chills may still have missed 10%.
• Some intervention to prevent transmission from HCP include expanding symptoms-based screening criteria, furloughing symptomatic HCP, facilitating testing of symptomatic HCP, face mask use by all HCP, and creating sick leave policies that are non-punitive, flexible, and consistent with public health guidance.

Chow et al. (Apr 17, 2020). Symptom Screening at Illness Onset of Health Care Personnel With SARS-CoV-2 Infection in King County, Washington. JAMA.  https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2764953