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INTRODUCTION: A consultation dedicated to symptomatic health professionals was opened at the beginning of the COVID-19 epidemic in order to meet the specific needs of this population The objective of this work was to estimate the frequency of SARS-Cov-2 nasopharyngeal carriage in symptomatic healthcare workers suspected of having COVID-19 and to determine the factors associated with this carriage METHODS: Of the 522 consultants, 308 worked in the Hospital and 214 outside They had mild forms of COVID-19 and non-specific clinical signs with the exception of agueusia/anosmia, which was significantly more common in those with positive RT-PCR The rate of RT-PCR positivity was 38% overall, without significant difference according to profession It was higher among external consultants (47% versus 31%) In the hospital, this rate was significantly lower for symptomatic staff in the care sectors, compared to staff in the technical platforms and laboratories (24%, versus 45%, p = 0 006 and 54%, respectively, p < 0 001), but did not differ between staff in COVID units and other care sectors (30% versus 28%) Among the external consultants, the positivity rates of nursing home and private practices staff (53% and 55% respectively) were more than double that of acute care hospital staff (24%, p < 0 001) CONCLUSIONS: These data confirm the strong impact of COVID-19 on health professionals The higher positivity rates among symptomatic professionals working outside the hospital compared to those working in hospital may be explained in part by a shortage of protective equipment and by difficulties in accessing virological diagnosis, which were greater outside the hospital when the epidemic began Publisher: Abstract available from the publisher fre
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