TY - JOUR AU - Brown, Aubrey AU - Schwarcz, Leilani AU - Counts, Catherine AU - Barnard, Leslie AU - Yang, Betty AU - Emert, Jamie AU - Latimer, Andrew AU - Drucker, Christopher AU - Lynch, John AU - Kudenchuk, Peter AU - Sayre, Michael AU - Rea, Thomas T1 - Risk for Acquiring Coronavirus Disease Illness among Emergency Medical Service Personnel Exposed to Aerosol-Generating Procedures T2 - Emerging Infectious Disease journal PY - 2021 VL - 27 IS - 9 SP - 2340 SN - 1080-6059 AB - We investigated the risk of coronavirus disease (COVID-19)­ patients transmitting severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) to emergency medical service (EMS) providers, stratified by aerosol-generating procedures (AGP), in King County, Washington, USA, during February 16–July 31, 2020. We conducted a retrospective cohort investigation using a statewide COVID-19 registry and identified 1,115 encounters, 182 with ≥1 AGP. Overall, COVID-19 incidence among EMS personnel was 0.57 infections/10,000 person-days. Incidence per 10,000 person-days did not differ whether or not infection was attributed to a COVID-19 patient encounter (0.28 vs. 0.59; p>0.05). The 1 case attributed to a COVID-19 patient encounter occurred within an at-risk period and involved an AGP. We observed a very low risk for COVID-19 infection attributable to patient encounters among EMS first responders, supporting clinical strategies that maintain established practices for treating patients in emergency conditions. KW - aerosol-generating procedures KW - aerosol transmission KW - cardiac arrest KW - coronavirus disease KW - COVID-19 KW - emergency medical services KW - emergency treatment KW - health occupations KW - medical first responders KW - public health KW - public health readiness KW - respiratory infections KW - SARS-COV-2 KW - severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 KW - viruses KW - zoonoses DO - 10.3201/eid2709.210363 UR - https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/27/9/21-0363_article ER - End of Reference