key: cord-1006571-vla1xnvl
authors: Morris, Claudia R.; Iyer, Srikant
title: Reply to Letter to the Editor regarding hospital-based triage travel screens during the COVID-19 pandemic
date: 2021-04-13
journal: Int J Infect Dis
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijid.2021.04.016
sha: 4cffe288311d40f0dbdaa146169c9b6fc120c242
doc_id: 1006571
cord_uid: vla1xnvl

nan

We thank authors Greenky et al. for their thoughtful comments regarding our article "Prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 Antibodies in Pediatric Healthcare Workers (pHCWs)." (Morris et al., 2021) .

Our study suggested pHCWs, especially those in the pediatric emergency department (ED), were at risk for contracting COVID-19 early in the pandemic.

Although we found that the personal travel of pHCWs was not associated with increased pHCW seropositivity in our study, Greenky and colleagues are correct in pointing out that we did not assess the potential role of patient or patient family travel. We agree with the authors that patient or family member travel from certain geographic areas was likely a risk factor for COVID-19 infection in the early stages of the pandemic. However, we also acknowledge that the initial stages of the COVID-19 pandemic were dynamic. Process, protocol, and policy changes were iteratively revised and implemented as the scientific community drew inferences from increasing amounts of information. An algorithmic travel screen that could be refined to stay consistent with these changes in knowledge may improve the reliability of our ability to detect travel-related infections.

Further research to determine how to more nimbly refine hospital triage travel screens based on evolving knowledge will be helpful to protect pHCWs in the future, especially those on the frontline.

We appreciate this opportunity to use our work to positively impact the safety of pHCWs.

J o u r n a l P r e -p r o o f Ethical approval was not required.

☒ The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in pediatric healthcare workers

☐The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests:We declare no conflicts of interests. Claudia R. Morris, MD, is the inventor or co-inventor of several UCSF-Benioff Children's Hospital Oakland patents/patent-pending applications that include nutritional supplements, and biomarkers of cardiovascular disease related to arginine bioavailability, is an inventor of several Emory University School of Medicine patents/patent applications, including a patent filing for nutritional therapies that target coronaviruses, and is a consultant for Pfizer, Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd. and CSL Behring.