Assessing the Risks of SARS-CoV-2 Transmission

The pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 has led to significant disruption of everyday human activities, including school closures.[NEJM Mar 26, 2020] Medical experts have attempted to educate the public by quantifying the relative risks of different activities; however, these assessments only reflect the views and potential biases of a handful of experts.[NPR Rating Risks][Texas Medical Association--Risk]

We would like to get opinions from a larger sample of infectious diseases physicians about the relative transmission risks of SARS-CoV-2 during participation in daily activities and during school reopenings.[AAP Guidance][CDC Schools] In addition, we will analyze elements that might influence medical providers’ perceptions of risk to gain valuable insights into how opinions have been shaped by personal factors and experiences during the pandemic.

The purpose of this study is to better understand how adult and pediatric medical providers assess the risk of different activities, including school and daycare reopening plans, during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Name:      Email: (for results) Do you provide direct medical care for patients who are suspected of having or been diagnosed with COVID-19? Yes          No Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, has your local hospital(s) reached or surpassed capacity, including overall bed availability, ICU bed availability or ventilator capacity, due to a surge in the number of COVID-19 cases? Yes          No For the area in which your practice is located, has the city, county, or state enacted a mandatory mask order for public spaces? Yes          No In your local community, with what frequency do you estimate that community members are routinely following the CDC’s recommendations regarding social distancing and mask wearing in public? 0-25%         26-50%         51-75%         76-100% For the following activities, please estimate the relative risk between 0-10 of becoming infected with SARS-CoV-2 by an adult participant. Presume that social distancing and masking is being practiced by almost all participants for each activity unless otherwise stated. Also assume there is local transmission of COVID-19 cases, but local hospitals are not at capacity and the seven-day rolling average of the daily new COVID-19 cases has plateaued. Because there are many potential nuances to each activity (e.g. space, density of people, ventilation, or quality of masks), please provide a score that best represents the generalized risk of each activity.                                                                                     [Rate from 0 (lowest risk) to 10 (highest risk)] 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Working from home Providing medical care to a COVID-19 patient without any personal protective equipment Walking in an uncrowded park Spending time in a busy bar Riding a public bus Playing contact football Shopping at a grocery store Air travel, assume four-hour flight and airport layover Eating indoors at a restaurant Working as a big-box store checkout clerk Attending an outdoor birthday party of 10 people Working out in a gym Going to a hair salon or barber Picking-up take-out food Providing medical care to a COVID-19 patient with full personal protective equipment (faceshield, gown, N-95 mask, gloves) Attending an indoor sporting event (>1,000 in attendance) Waiting at a clinic or pharmacy for the seasonal influenza vaccine For the following activities, if NO social distancing or masking is being practiced by any of the attendants unless otherwise stated, please estimate the relative risk between 0-10 of becoming infected with SARS-CoV-2 by an adult participant, using the same system that you used in the above question.                                                                                     [Rate from 0 (lowest risk) to 10 (highest risk)] 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Walking in an uncrowded park Spending time in a busy bar Riding a public bus Playing contact football Shopping at a grocery store Air travel, assume four-hour flight and airport layover Eating indoors at a restaurant Working as a big-box store checkout clerk Attending an outdoor birthday party of 10 people Working out in a gym Going to a hair salon or barber Picking-up take-out food Attending an indoor sporting event (>1,000 in attendance) Waiting at a clinic or pharmacy for the seasonal influenza vaccine Do you have any children (under age 18) in your immediate household? Yes          No What has been the primary approach for reopening schools in the primary school district(s) in your community? Virtual learning only Mixture of virtual and in-person instruction Temporary virtual learning with later reopening to in-person instruction In-person instruction only Not sure Next, consider the risks of COVID-19 for daycares and schools, and score the risk to participants in each situation over a full 7-hour day using the same scale used in question 5 and 6. Assume there is local transmission of COVID-19 cases, but local hospitals are not at capacity and the seven-day rolling average of the daily new COVID-19 cases has plateaued. Presume each educational center is following the AAP and CDC recommendations for school/daycare reopening with appropriate methods for cleaning, ventilation, social distancing, wearing masks, physical barriers where possible, cohorting, and methods in place for identifying potentially sick children. All classroom situations are limited to <30 attendees. For educators, assume the person is age 40 without any past medical history or risk factors for severe COVID-19 disease.                                                                                     [Rate from 0 (lowest risk) to 10 (highest risk)] Participants 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 College student High school student Elementary student Child (age 0-5 years) attending an all-day daycare College-level educator High school educator Elementary school educator All-day daycare educator Practice Description State in which you practice:    Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware District Of Columbia Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming Puerto Rico & U.S. Virgin Islands Canada Other Please select your job title: Physician Advanced practice provider (PA or NP) Pharmacist Nurse Epidemiologist/Public Health Department official Other, specify: What is your specialty? Family Medicine Internal Medicine General Pediatrics Adolescent Medicine Internal Medicine-Pediatrics Adult Infectious Diseases Pediatric Infectious Diseases Other, specify: For which age group do you primarily provide care? Pediatrics (age 0-18 years)     Adults     Mixture of both How many years have you been in practice since completing your residency, fellowship or terminal degree? <5 years     5-14 years     15-24 years     >=25 years Please indicate your gender: Male     Female     Other     Prefer not to answer Please provide any final comments about assessing risk for COVID-19: