COVID-19 after the first wave of the pandemic among employees from a German university hospital: prevalence and questionnaire data
Authors: Sellmeier Anna Catharina ,   Department of Trauma Surgery and Orthopedics, University Hospital OWL of Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany,   These authors contributed equally to this work, Elsner Andreas ,   DIOOS – German Institute for Orthopedics, Osteopathy and Sports Medicine, Bielefeld, Germany,   These authors contributed equally to this work, Niedergassel Tim ,   DIOOS – German Institute for Orthopedics, Osteopathy and Sports Medicine, Bielefeld, Germany,   MVZ Medicum Brake, Bielefeld, Germany, Schmitz Johannes ,   Faculty of Business and Economics, University of Applied Sciences, Neu-Ulm, Germany, Rehberg Sebastian ,   Department of Anaesthesiology, Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine, University Hospital OWL of Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany, Hornberg Claudia ,   Medical Faculty, University Bielefeld, Bielefeld, Germany, Vordemvenne Thomas ,   Department of Trauma Surgery and Orthopedics, University Hospital OWL of Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany,   DIOOS – German Institute for Orthopedics, Osteopathy and Sports Medicine, Bielefeld, Germany,   These authors contributed equally to this work, Wähnert Dirk ,   Department of Trauma Surgery and Orthopedics, University Hospital OWL of Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany,   DIOOS – German Institute for Orthopedics, Osteopathy and Sports Medicine, Bielefeld, Germany,   These authors contributed equally to this work,   Dirk Wähnert, Department of Trauma Surgery and Orthopedics, University Hospital OWL of Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany. E-mail: Dirk.Waehnert@evkb.de
Published: November 2022

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has changed lives around the world. In particular, healthcare workers faced significant challenges as a result of the pandemic. This study investigates the seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 in March–April 2020 in Germany among healthcare workers and relates it to questionnaire data. In June 2020, all employees of the reporting hospital were offered a free SARS-CoV-2 antibody test. The first 2,550 test results were sent along with study documents. The response rate was 15.1%. The COVID-19 PCR test prevalence amongst health care workers in this study was 1.04% (95% CI 0.41–2.65%), higher by a factor of 5 than in the general population (p=0.01). The ratio of seroprevalence to PCR prevalence was 1.5. COVID-19-associated symptoms were also prevalent in the non-COVID-19-positive population. Only two symptoms showed statistically significant odds ratios, loss of smell and loss of taste. Health care workers largely supported non-pharmaceutical interventions during the initial lockdown (93%). Individual behavior correlated significantly with attitudes toward policy interventions and perceived individual risk factors. Our data suggest that healthcare workers may be at higher risk of infection. Therefore, a discussion about prioritizing vaccination makes sense. They also support offering increased SARS-CoV-2 testing to hospital workers. It is concluded that easier access to SARS-CoV-2 testing reduces the number of unreported cases. Furthermore, individual attitudes toward rules and regulations on COVID-19 critically influence compliance. Thus, one goal of public policy should be to maintain high levels of support for non-pharmaceutical interventions to keep actual compliance high.