DUBLIN: Health care assistants are reported to be much more likely to be infected with COVID-19 from patients than doctors and nurses. The findings are based on a new study conducted at two Irish hospitals.
The new findings come from a COVID antibody test performed on health workers at St James’ Hospital in Dublin and Galway University Hospital (GUH).
The test found the presence of COVID antibody in 15% of employees at St. James and 4.1% at GUH. This is more than the number of employees currently confirmed by COVID-19. The study also points out that many people work without knowing they are infected.
Between March and October last year, one in ten employees at St. James’s Hospital were sick. At the same time, 1.8% of GUH patients were diagnosed with COVID-19 during this period.
The Health Services Executive on Thursday published a new study based on samples taken from 5,700 hospital staff last October. The study also found that COVID antibodies were found in more than one in five people who came in contact with or suspected of having COVID infection at St James’ Hospital.
Antibody was found in 6.9% of doctors, 6.2% of health care assistants and 4.7% of GUH nurses.
The study found that the prevalence of the virus among hospital staff was six times higher than in the community in Dublin and Galway. In addition, the study found that the vast majority of employees (95%) who were previously COVID positive had antibodies.
At the same time, 39% of employees who were found to have antibodies had never been tested by COVID-19. That’s 3.9% of the 5,787 employees involved in the study. Health workers are among those admitted to ventilators in critical condition in some hospitals in Ireland. The Department of Health also warns health workers, including nurses and carers, to be extra vigilant.
The study found that health workers worked while they were asymptomatic and that such health workers required comprehensive screening. It also found that the high prevalence of the COVID virus among health care assistants could be due to contact with patients.
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