SARS-CoV-2 Seroprevalence Survey in People Involved in Different Essential Activities during the General Lock-Down Phase in the Province of Prato (Tuscany, Italy).

Vieri Lastrucci,Fabrizio Chiesi,Marco Del Riccio,Sara Boccalini,Angela Bechini,Paolo Bonanni,Guglielmo Bonaccorsi,Chiara Lorini,Francesco Puggelli,Gino Sartor,Eleonora Gori,Beatrice Zanella

doi:10.3390/vaccines8040778

Vieri Lastrucci, Fabrizio Chiesi + Show 10 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines8040778

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Journal: Vaccines	Publication Date: Dec 19, 2020
Citations: 24	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: University of Florence, Meyer Children's Hospital

Abstract

Serosurveys may help to assess the transmission dynamics in high-risk groups. The aim of the study was to assess the SARS-CoV-2 antibody seroprevalence in people who had performed essential activities during the lock-down period in the Province of Prato (Italy), and to evaluate the risk of exposure to SARS-CoV-2 according to the type of service. All the workers and volunteers of the Civil Protection, employees of the municipalities, and all the staff of the Health Authority of the Province of Prato were invited to be tested with a rapid serological test. A total of 4656 participants were tested. SARS-CoV-2 antibodies were found in 138 (2.96%) cases. The seroprevalence in health care workers, in participants involved in essential support services and in those who worked from home were 4.1%, 1.4% and 1.0%, respectively. Health care workers experienced higher odds of seropositivity (OR 4.38, 95%CI 2.19–10.41) than participants who were assigned to work-from-home; no significant seropositivity differences were observed between support services and work-from-home groups. A low circulation of SARS-CoV-2 was observed among participants performing different essential activities. Findings highlighted the risk of in-hospital transmission in healthcare workers and that community support services may increase the risk of seropositivity to a limited extent in low incidence areas.

Highlights

At the end of 2019, several cases of severe pneumonia of unknown origin were identified inWuhan (Hubei, China); the etiological agent of this unidentified pneumonia has been subsequently confirmed as a novel coronavirus [1]
To better comprehend the effective circulation of SARS-CoV-2 in the Italian population and in particular in those groups of people potentially more exposed to COVID-19 cases, serological rapid tests were recommended to be used among high-risk groups
A relatively low prevalence of antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 was observed among participants involved in different essential activities during the lock-down period in the early stage of the COVID-19 epidemic in the Province of Prato (Tuscany, Italy)

Summary

Introduction

Wuhan (Hubei, China); the etiological agent of this unidentified pneumonia has been subsequently confirmed as a novel coronavirus [1]. The novel virus was classified as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and the related disease as COVID-19 [2,3]. Vaccines 2020, 8, 778 cases started to exponentially increase across the Hubei province, and the outbreak quickly spread in many other countries; in March 2020, the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 pandemic [4]. (31 January 2020), the outbreak started in the Northern Italy, with the first autochthonous Italian case confirmed on 21 February 2020 [5]. A study carried out by the Italian Institute of Health documented the presence of the SARS-Cov-2 in untreated wastewaters of different geographic regions of Italy during December

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