Symptoms of viral infection and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) positivity rates of SARS-CoV2 in healthcare professionals in Paris, France

Introduction: On 10 March 2020, the World Health Organization declared a global pandemic due to widespread infection of the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 [1] In France, the testing policy in the beginning of the pandemic suggested a restriction to symptomatic persons with risk factors or health care workers (HCWs) [2] We report the results of prevalence testing for SARS-CoV-2 and the associated symptoms in HCWs presented with influenza-like illness during the first month at Stantoine Hospital in Paris Patients and methods: We prospectively collected nasopharyngeal swabs from persons attending the outpatient testing unit of StAntoine University Hospital in Paris from 28 February to 31 March 2020 Real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was performed for SARS-CoV-2 and for the most common respiratory pathogens Patient characteristics, symptoms at presentation, occupation and risk factors were collected Data were analysed for normality and descriptive statistics were presented as a number (%) for categorical variables and median (interquartile range [IQR]) for continuous variables Chi-square test was used for categorical variables Results: Overall, 823 patients sought medical care during the study period According to the former testing strategy 623 (74 9%) qualified for testing for SARS-CoV-2, among whom 481 (77 2%) were HCWs The median (IQR) age was 37 (29 to 50) years and 181 patients (29 1%) were male The overall prevalence of SARS-CoV2 was 28 1% Among patients with negative SAS-CoV2 PCR, 37 (4 5%) were carriers of another respiratory virus, mainly influenza virus (35%) Compared to other patients, HCWs had higher prevalence of SARS-CoV2 (30 1% vs 21 1%, p < 0 04) The median (IQR) onset of symptoms before the test was 3 (2 to 4) days in patients with COVID-19 Fever and cough were noted in 138 (78 9%) and 124 (70 9%) patients respectively while anosmia, fever, myalgia and headache were significantly more common in patients with SARS-CoV2 infection (26 3% vs 6 7%, 78 9% vs 56 7%, 46 9% vs 31 5% and 45 1% vs 31 7% respectively) Conclusions: At the very beginning of the COVID-19 epidemic in France, the overall prevalence of SARS-CoV2 positivity in a hospital screening centre in Paris was 30 1% among HCWs who sought medical care for influenza-like illness, which highlights the importance of screening of health care professionals for SARS-CoV2 during an epidemic period