![]() ![]() In 182 (16%) of these encounters, an aerosol-generating procedure was performed. Of those 1,592 EMS providers, 655 (41%) had one encounter with an infected patient, 417 (26%) had two, and 520 (33%) had three or more. It is home to 2.3 million residents.Īn EMS provider was considered potentially exposed to COVID-19 if the patient had a positive SARS-CoV-2 swab sample within 10 days before or three days after the encounter. A provider infection was attributable to such a patient encounter if the provider first tested positive two to 14 days after the encounter.ĭuring that time, 1,592 of the EMS providers cared for 946 different COVID-19 patients, resulting in a total 3,710 encounters in which a provider cared for an infected patient. King County is a 2,300-square-mile metropolitan region encompassing Seattle. ![]() ![]() In the study, the researchers examined the work records of 3,000 EMS workers in King County during 2020, from mid-February to the end of July. The study’s lead author was Aubrey Brown, a senior UW medical student with an interest in high acuity medicine. He is a professor of general internal medicine at the UW School of Medicine and medical director of King County Emergency Medical Services. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.ĭr. Their findings appear in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases, a publication of the U.S. The study was conducted by researchers from the University of Washington School of Medicine and from Public Health – Seattle & King County Division of Emergency Medical Services. The risk that emergency medical service (EMS) first responders will contract COVID-19 from infected patients is extremely low – even when care involves procedures that generate large volumes of respiratory aerosols, such as intubation, a new study has found. ![]()
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