The overwhelming risk to emergency staff was, surprisingly, community COVID-19 exposures, particularly at home, where there was 16-fold increased risk of subsequent infection. Further, those staff who did not use masks during life outside the ED when infections were prevalent were at additional risk.

The bottom line, the CDC’s PPE recommendations worked to protect U.S. emergency health care workers during the early phase of a deadly global contagion. Vaccination has taken some edge off our anxieties, but should infections and severe outcomes surge again, careful adherence to PPE recommendations and routine N95 mask use should be considered. Just as most motor vehicle collisions occur close to home, health care workers must remain vigilant when disease activity increases in their communities for this current and any future pandemics.

Dr. Talan is emeritus professor of emergency medicine and medicine/infectious diseases at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and was co-Principal Investigator of the CODA trial.

Dr. Mohr is professor of emergency medicine, anesthesia critical care, and epidemiology at the University of Iowa.

References

1. Rodriguez RM, Montoy JC, Hoth KF, Talan DA, Harland KK, Tem Eyck P, Mower W, Krishnadasan A, Santibanez S, Mohr N. Symptoms of anxiety, burnout, and PTSD and the mitigation effect of serologic testing in emergency department personnel during the COVID-19 pandemic. Ann Emerg Med. 2021;78:35-43.
2. Mohr MN, Krishnadasan A, Harland KK, Eyck PT, Mower W, Schrading WA, Montoy JC, McDonald LC, Kutty PK, Hesse E, Santibanez S, Weissman DN, Slev P, Talan DA for the Project COVERED Emergency Department Network. Emergency department personnel patient care-related COVID-19 risk. PLOS ONE. 2022 (in press).