Editor's Note
This study by researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, finds that healthcare worker (HCW) reported COVID-19 symptoms can be used to estimate hospital demand in the communities where they live.
This analysis includes 6,481 HCWs who worked at 1 hospital and lived within a 10-hospital service area in New England, from April 2, 2020, to November 4, 2020. The HCWs were required to report any symptoms that might be associated with COVID-19 on a daily basis via an automated text messaging system.
Results showed that an increased frequency of COVID-19 symptoms reported by HCWs at the single hospital where they worked was associated with increased hospitalizations across all 10 hospitals, 7 days later.
The findings suggest that before reliable testing is available in a pandemic, use of secondary data sources can be used to estimate hospital demand, the researchers say.
