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. 2022 Oct 31;10(11):1847.
doi: 10.3390/vaccines10111847.

Effect of Lockdowns on Hospital Staff in a COVID Center: A Retrospective Observational Study

Giuseppe Vetrugno  1   2 , Maurizio Sanguinetti  1   2 , Rita Murri  1   2 , Michela Sali  1   2 , Simona Marchetti  1 , Rosaria Santangelo  1   2 , Massimo Fantoni  1   2 , Antonella Cingolani  1   2 , Giancarlo Scoppettuolo  1   2 , Michele Di Donato  1 , Vincenzo M Grassi  1   2 , Federica Foti  1   2 , Luca Marchese  1   2 , Fabio De-Giorgio  1   2 , Antonio Oliva  1   2 , Domenico Staiti  1   2 , Francesco Maria De Simone  1 , Domenico Pascucci  1   2 , Fidelia Cascini  2 , Roberta Pastorino  1   2 , Denise Pires-Marafon  2 , Andrea Cambieri  1 , Patrizia Laurenti  1   2 , Stefania Boccia  1   2 , Walter Ricciardi  2 , Francesco Franceschi  1   2 , On Behalf Of Gemelli-Against-Covid
Affiliations

Effect of Lockdowns on Hospital Staff in a COVID Center: A Retrospective Observational Study

Giuseppe Vetrugno et al. Vaccines (Basel). .

Abstract

At the onset of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, individual and social measures were strengthened through restrictive non-pharmaceutical interventions, labelled with the term “lockdown”. In Italy, there were two lockdowns (9 March 2020−3 May 2020 and 3 November 2020−27 March 2021). As part of preventive measures, healthcare workers and the administrative staff population of Policlinico A. Gemelli underwent nasopharyngeal swab tests from 1 March 2020 to 9 February 2022, a long time interval that includes the two aforementioned lockdowns. The population included 8958 people from 1 March 2020 to 31 December 2020; 8981 people from 1 January 2021 to 31 December 2021; and 8981 people from 1 January 2022 to 9 February 2022. We then analysed pseudo-anonymized data, using a retrospective observational approach to evaluate the impact of the lockdown on the incidence of SARS-CoV-2 infections within the population. Given the 14 day contagious period, the swab positivity rate (SPR) among the staff decreased significantly at the end of the first lockdown, every day prior to 18 May 2020, by 0.093 (p < 0.0001, CI = (−0.138−−0.047)). After the fourteenth day post the end of the first lockdown (18 May 2020), the SPR increased daily at a rate of 0.024 (p < 0.0001, 95% CI = (0.013−0.034)). In addition, the SPR appeared to increase significantly every day prior to 17 November 2020 by 0.024 (p < 0.0001, CI = (0.013−0.034)). After the fourteenth day post the start of the second lockdown (17 November 2020), the SPR decreased daily at a rate of 0.039 (p < 0.0001, 95% CI = (−0.050−−0.027)). These data demonstrate that, in our Institution, the lockdowns helped to both protect healthcare workers and maintain adequate standards of care for COVID and non-COVID patients for the duration of the state of emergency in Italy.

Keywords: COVID-19; healthcare workers; lockdown; swab; vaccination.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
(a) Timeline representing both interventions based on National/Local Health Authorities and measures adopted in our Institution; (b) The trend of infections and positivity in the staff group and the patient group admitted to our Institution.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Regression with Newey–West standard errors. The red dotted line represents the intervention point. (a) shows postlinear trend regression output from 23 March 2020 (start of 1st lockdown + 14 days) intervention point. (b) represents the increase of swab positivity rate after the 14th day after the end of 1st lockdown (18 May 2020); (c) displays the decrease of swab positivity rate after the 14th day after start of 2nd lockdown (17 November 2020); (d) illustrates the increase of swab positivity after the 14th day after the end of 2nd lockdown (11 April 2021) at a rate of 0.007.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Daily swab positivity rate reported over time showing the intervention points. Red dotted lines represent the start and the end of each lockdown + 14 day.
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