185: Exposure on the Frontline: Incidence of COVID-19 in Healthcare Personnel at a Quaternary Care Center

INTRODUCTION: There are growing concerns for the wellbeing of all healthcare personnel (HCP) providing care for patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) The proportion of HCP infected with COVID-19 is not well-reported The conversion rate of HCP working in COVID-19 units is limited The aim of this study was to determine the seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 among HCP working in designated COVID-19 intensive care units (ICU) METHODS: HCP who participated in the management of COVID-19 patients in the surgical and medical ICUs were recruited over a 2-month period Serological testing was performed using CMC-19D SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) Rapid Antibody Test (Audacia Bioscience, Windsor, Canada) according to manufacturer's instructions Demographic data including age, sex and race were reported Participants completed a questionnaire identifying the presence or absence of any medical comorbidities or recent symptoms (i e fever, cough, shortness of breath, etc) No identifiable data was collected on the participants RESULTS: A total of 375 HCP in the surgical and medical ICUs participated in the study The incidence of positive IgG antibodies was 8% (n=31) The majority of the participants were nurses (n=194, 52%) and female (n=257, 69%) There was no difference in seroconversion rate between medical professions There was a higher prevalence of positive antibodies in men despite comprising 21% of the participants (p=0 013) A history of fever (p=0 003), chills (p=0 001), cough (p=0 011), wheezing (p=0 001), shortness of breath (p=0 001), loss of taste or smell (p=0 001) were more prevalent in patients with IgG antibodies Chronic renal disease (p=0 01) was also more prevalent Self-reporting to the adherence of wearing PPE all or nearly all the time was 95% People who did not wear PPE all the time had an increased risk of seroconversion (11 vs 5%) but this was not statistically significant (p=0 2) CONCLUSIONS: The seroprevalence of at-risk HCP managing COVID-19 in an area with high prevalence was less than 10% using a rapid antibody test There was no difference between different HCPs Men had a higher seroprevalence than women We hope these results show that with proper protocols and PPE we are able to protect HCPs