International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health Protocol Eastern Cape Healthcare Workers Acquisition of SARS-CoV-2 (ECHAS): Cross-Sectional (Nested Cohort) Study Protocol Oladele Vincent Adeniyi 1,2,* , David Stead 2,3, Mandisa Singata-Madliki 4,5, Joanne Batting 4,5, Leo Hyera 6, Eloise Jelliman 7, Shareef Abrahams 8 and Andrew Parrish 2,3 1 Department of Family Medicine, Cecilia Makiwane Hospital, East London 5219, South Africa 2 Faculty of Health Sciences, Walter Sisulu University, Mthatha 5117, South Africa;
[email protected] (D.S.);
[email protected] (A.P.) 3 Department of Internal Medicine, Cecilia Makiwane and Frere Hospitals, East London 5219, South Africa 4 Effective Care Research Unit, Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Frere Hospital, East London 5247, South Africa;
[email protected] (M.S.-M.);
[email protected] (J.B.) 5 Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Fort Hare, East London 5200, South Africa 6 Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Cecilia Makiwane Hospital, East London 5219, South Africa;
[email protected] 7 Department of Radiology, Frere Hospital, East London 5247, South Africa;
[email protected] 8 Department of Pathology, Division of Medical Microbiology, National Health Laboratory Service, Port Elizabeth 6020, South Africa;
[email protected] * Correspondence:
[email protected] Abstract: Healthcare workers (HCWs) are at increased risk of infection by the virulent severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2). Though data exist on the positivity rate of the SARS-CoV-2 reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test as well as COVID-19- related deaths amongst HCWs in South Africa, the overall infection rate remains underestimated by these indicators.