Secure Health Care Workers' Health and Safety Methodically During COVID-19 Epidemic in Taiwan.

Abstract

The aim of this article is to assess the effectiveness of 3 measures of COVID-19 (coronavirus disease) containment for securing health care workers' (HCWs) safety and health at 5 medical university-affiliated hospitals in Taiwan. Three measures were to enforce the reporting of HCWs with unknown fever, acute respiratory illness, and other symptoms; to conduct ongoing surveillance to obtain early warning of potential contagion exposure; and to perform epidemiological investigation and outbreak management. A 17-week surveillance data were collected, 374 (6.17%) HCWs with unknown fever or acute respiratory infection symptoms detected by online body temperature surveillance system were reported, there were no cases of nosocomial infection of COVID-19 among HCWs. Via contact tracing and reporting system, 133 (2.19%) HCWs reported footprints in different epidemic events, but no HCWs were infected. No onward transmission to HCWs occurred after containment measures were formulated. Integrated measures of surveillance, managing epidemic transmission chain, and encouraging individual responsibility have been effective approaches among HCWs in the ongoing COVID-19 epidemic. Despite the absence of ongoing local transmission, vigilance and compliance must be maintained to prevent spread of health care-associated infections in all areas and in social mingling among HCWs outside hospitals. These 3 methodical measures secured HCWs' health and safety successfully and preserved health care delivery continuously.