ABSTRACT
In December 2019, the coronavirus disease COVID-19 began in China. Since then, millions of infections and deaths from this cause have been reported worldwide, particularly among health workers who have suffered the harsh onslaught of the pandemic in the context of healthcare systems collapsed by demand. In this sense, the objective of this work was to determine the prevalence, sociodemographic, epidemiological, and clinical characteristics of COVID-19 present in health workers of the "Instituto Aut..nomo Hospital Universitario de Los Andes" in M..rida-Venezuela. An observational, retrospective, single-center, documentary study was carried out, where 297 clinical-epidemiological records corresponding to 285 health workers were analyzed, in a period between March 16 and November 30, 2020. The records were separated into two groups, front-line workers and support workers. The overall positivity of the RT-PCRs performed was 31.6%. The frequency of positive confirmatory results was highest among support workers at 33.9%. Nursing staff had the highest positivity (39.5%). A seroprevalence of 34.3% was found in immunological tests. The prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection among health care workers was higher among support workers compared to front-line workers. Therefore, general and work-specific prevention strategies should be strengthened to limit the spread of SARS-CoV-2 among staff to ensure that they perform safely and effectively.
ABSTRACT
On March 13, 2020, the first cases of SARS-COVID19 were detected in Uruguay. During the first weeks of the pandemic, mobility was significantly reduced under the motto: "Stay home, if you can”;it was not a mandatory but encouraged confinement. After a couple of months, there was a big drop in the number of people affected by the disease. Thus, the Municipality of Montevideo defined that a small stretch of the main avenue of the city should be converted into a pedestrian walkway on Saturday afternoons, betting on a more human and 'walkable city'. It resulted in a greater enjoyment of the city by its inhabitants, as they had more space to walk while maintaining safe distancing between pedestrians. It was also possible to promote shopping, since Ave. 18 de Julio is normally a commercial walkway. Additionally, the sound pressure levels recorded by the Municipality's stationary sound level meters located at three points along the avenue, showed a reduction of environmental sound levels in pedestrian areas, improving the acoustic quality of the walkway. Sound pressure levels on Saturday afternoons at different times of the year 2020, are compared and discussed in this paper. They have been registered during and after the initial lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic. © INTER-NOISE 2021 .All right reserved.