Seroprevalence of and risk factors associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection in health careworkers during the early COVID-19 pandemic in Italy

Our results suggest that lack of experience in treating infectious disease patients and direct and prolonged contacts with infected individuals, rather than exposure to most severe cases or specimens from infected subjects, may increase the risk of infection in healthcare professionals. The highest risk of infection was found among health assistants and nurses, in people working in emergency rooms and hospital wards dedicated to sub-acute, convalescent patients or sub-clinical infections. These results call for adequate training, support and provision of PPE of to all healthcare personnel both to manage clinical COVID-19 cases and to prevent silent transmission from non-clinical infections. Adherence to hygiene protocols and the maintenance of universal masking among HCW remains a necessary ingredient of a multipronged strategy for infection reduction in health care settings