Exploration of COVID-19 health-care worker cases : implications for action

Overview

Health-care workers are at high risk of infection with SARS-COV-2 not only while treating COVID-19 patients, but also from exposure in health-care facilities while not treating COVID-19 patients, from exposure in the household, and from exposure in the community. Infected health-care workers impact the health-care system's ability to respond to the pandemic and deliver essential services. This guidance describes a system to detect HCW cases, investigate avenues of infections, and guide appropriate responses at the facility and public health levels based on the investigation findings. It is intended for national and subnational public health authorities and health-care facility managers.