When Should Healthcare Workers With Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Return to Work? An Analysis of Follow-up Antigen Test Results After a Positive COVID Test

Anthony Baffoe-Bonnie; Mandy C Swann; Hyun Sue Kim

doi:10.1093/ofid/ofad114

When Should Healthcare Workers With Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Return to Work? An Analysis of Follow-up Antigen Test Results After a Positive COVID Test

Open Forum Infect Dis. 2023 Mar 3;10(3):ofad114. doi: 10.1093/ofid/ofad114. eCollection 2023 Mar.

Authors

Anthony Baffoe-Bonnie^{1

2

3

4}, Mandy C Swann¹, Hyun Sue Kim²

Affiliations

¹ Carilion Clinic Infection Prevention and Control, Roanoke, Virginia, USA.
² Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine, Roanoke, Virginia, USA.
³ Carilion Clinic Infectious Diseases, Roanoke, Virginia, USA.
⁴ Carilion Clinic Department of Medicine, Roanoke, Virginia, USA.

Abstract

A high percentage of healthcare workers (HCWs) who had met the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention criteria for returning to work 5 days after symptom onset remained positive for their return-to-work COVID-19 antigen test, suggesting continued infectiousness. Boosted HCWs were more likely to be antigen positive on their return-to-work test compared to unvaccinated HCWs, which merits further research.

Keywords: COVID-19; healthcare worker; return-to-work antigen; vaccination status.