SARS-CoV-2 Infection Among Community Health Workers in India Before and After Use of Face Shields
JAMA Research Letter - Highlights
62 community health workers visited 5,880 homes with 31,164 persons.
They were assigned to counsel asymptomatic family contacts of patients who had tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 at their residence.
From the 5,880 homes visited, they found 222 persons who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, between May 4 to May 13.
Of the 62 community health workers involved, twelve (12) community health workers (19%) were infected during this period.
The work continued; however, the remaining workers were then required to wear face shields as they continued to provide counselling, visiting 18,228 homes.
Among the 118,428 persons they counselled, the 50 workers found 2,682 who subsequently tested positive for SARS-CoV-2.
Despite seeing almost four times the number of people, and finding 12 times the number of infected people, none of the 50-community health workers (who were wearing face shields) developed asymptomatic or symptomatic infection.
Journal of The American Medical Association – JAMA
August 17, 2020
The World Health Organization (WHO) officials have repeatedly expressed concerns that variants will continue to crop up in areas where the virus goes unchecked and called for vaccine equity and “solidarity" among countries. Ten countries have administered 75 per cent of all vaccine supply, while low-income countries have vaccinated barely 2 percent of their population.”
“The chief scientist of the World Health Organization is warning of “even more dire situations" worldwide in the coronavirus pandemic if high-income countries start administering vaccine boosters ahead of poorer countries without vaccines. With the U.S. health officials recommending booster shots for all Americans who have already been vaccinated, Dr. Soumya Swaminathan expressed concern that leaving billions of people in the developing world unvaccinated could foster emergence of new variants, like the Delta variant, that is driving new cases in the United States and beyond.
Winnipeg Free Press
August 18, 2021