Analysis of the effectiveness of hygiene measures and COVID-19 vaccination at a tertiary-care university hospital during the first two years of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic

Assessment of the effectiveness of protective measures at a tertiary-care hospital during the SARS-CoV-2 infection waves to provide advice for future pandemics. Retrospective cohort study among hospital staff using in-house surveillance data. University Hospital Erlangen (UKER), a tertiary-care provider in Bavaria, Germany. We outline the preventive measures introduced at UKER and retrospectively assess their effectiveness using anonymized monitoring data that were collected during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic from February 2020 to the end of January 2022. Analysed data includes the incidence of SARS-CoV-2 infections among employees, the frequency of high-risk contacts with infected patients or staff members and breakthrough infections considering the context of exposure. The cumulative incidence of SARS-CoV-2 infections among UKER employees was higher before, but lower after the vaccination campaign when compared to the general population. Healthcare workers (HCW), notably physicians and nurses, were especially at risk of infection compared to other UKER employees with less direct patient contact (OR 1.36 [95% CI 1.18-1.57 p