Volume 27, Number 9—September 2021
Research
Risk for Acquiring Coronavirus Disease Illness among Emergency Medical Service Personnel Exposed to Aerosol-Generating Procedures
Aubrey Brown, Leilani Schwarcz, Catherine R. Counts, Leslie M. Barnard, Betty Y. Yang, Jamie M. Emert, Andrew Latimer, Christopher Drucker, John Lynch, Peter J. Kudenchuk, Michael R. Sayre, and Thomas Rea
Table 1
Encounter characteristics by aerosol generating procedure status among COVID-19 patients, King County, Washington, February 16–July 31, 2020*
| Characteristic | All encounters | AGP encounters | Non–AGP encounters |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unique encounters |
1,115 (100.0) |
182 (16.3) |
933 (83.7) |
| Patient age, mean (SD) |
68.1 (19.8) |
69.4 (18.4) |
67.8 (20.1) |
| Sex | |||
| M | 563 (50.5) | 100 (54.9) | 463 (49.6) |
| F |
552 (49.5) |
82 (45.1) |
470 (50.4) |
| Location | |||
| Home | 529 (47.4) | 78 (42.9) | 451 (48.3) |
| Long-term care | 458 (41.1) | 87 (47.8) | 371 (39.8) |
| Public outdoors | 50 (4.5) | 3 (1.6) | 47 (5.0) |
| Medical clinic or office | 38 (3.4) | 11 (6.0) | 27 (2.9) |
| Public indoors | 21 (1.9) | 1 (0.5) | 20 (2.1) |
| Homeless shelter | 19 (1.7) | 2 (1.1) | 17 (1.8) |
| Other |
Unknown |
Unknown |
Unknown |
| Documented signs and symptoms | |||
| Fever | 467 (41.9) | 74 (40.7) | 393 (42.1) |
| Cough | 401 (36.0) | 65 (35.7) | 336 (36.0) |
| Shortness of breath | 472 (42.3) | 133 (73.1) | 339 (36.3) |
| Fever/cough/shortness of breath | 751 (67.4) | 147 (80.8) | 604 (64.7) |
| Sore throat/nasal congestion | 79 (7.1) | 8 (4.4) | 71 (7.6) |
| GI symptoms | 160 (14.3) | 23 (12.6) | 137 (14.7) |
| Body aches | 175 (15.7) | 27 (14.8) | 148 (15.9) |
| Altered mental status | 188 (16.9) | 39 (21.4) | 149 (16.0) |
| Fatigue/weakness | 354 (31.7) | 38 (20.9) | 316 (33.9) |
| Headache | 37 (3.3) | 6 (3.3) | 31 (3.3) |
| Chest pain |
75 (6.7) |
11 (6.0) |
64 (6.9) |
| Vital signs | |||
| Any abnormal vital sign | 936 (83.9) | 179 (98.4) | 757 (81.1) |
| Heart rate ≥100 bpm | 438 (39.3) | 87 (47.8) | 351 (37.6) |
| Temperature ≥38°C | 573 (51.4) | 94 (51.6) | 479 (51.3) |
| Respirations ≥24 breaths/min | 378 (33.9) | 114 (62.6) | 264 (28.3) |
| Oxygen saturation ≤90 SpO2 | 292 (26.2) | 127 (69.8) | 165 (17.7) |
| Systolic blood pressure ≤90 mm Hg | 69 (6.2) | 30 (16.5) | 39 (4.2) |
| Glasgow coma scale <12 | 97 (8.7) | 46 (25.3) | 51 (5.5) |
| Glasgow coma scale 13–14 | 58 (5.2) | 20 (11.0) | 38 (4.1) |
| Glasgow coma scale = 15 |
534 (47.9) |
76 (41.8) |
458 (49.1) |
| Patient with cardiac arrest |
22 (2.0) |
22 (12.1) |
Unknown |
| Initial EMS response type | |||
| Respiratory | 417 (37.4) | 101 (55.5) | 316 (33.9) |
| Fatigue/weakness/malaise | 157 (14.1) | 8 (4.4) | 149 (16.0) |
| Infection | 128 (11.5) | 13 (7.1) | 115 (12.3) |
| Behavioral/psychological/intoxication | 114 (10.2) | 19 (10.4) | 95 (10.2) |
| Other medical | 72 (6.5) | 2 (1.1) | 70 (7.5) |
| Cardiovascular | 64 (5.7) | 29 (15.9) | 35 (3.8) |
| Trauma | 64 (5.7) | 5 (2.7) | 59 (6.3) |
| Abdominal/GU/endocrine | 60 (5.4) | 3 (1.6) | 57 (6.1) |
| Neurological | 39 (3.5) | 2 (1.1) | 37 (4.0) |
*Values are no. (%) except as indicated. AGP, aerosol generating procedure; COVID-19, coronavirus disease; EMS, emergency medical service; GI, gastrointestinal; GU, genitourinary.
Page created: June 16, 2021
Page updated: August 17, 2021
Page reviewed: August 17, 2021
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