In a large-scale surveillance study, UCI Public Health researchers found that the prevalence of COVID-19 antibodies among Orange County firefighters was notably lower than the estimated prevalence compared to the general county population. The study is published in the journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine.
Results from the study showed a COVID-19 antibody seroprevalence of 5.3% among OC firefighters in October 2020 compared to 11.5% among the county’s general public that was taken in August 2020. The sizable difference, they explain, may be due to a variety of factors including differences in antibody test methods, duration of antibody response, or the protective effect of safety measures put in place across OC fire departments.
Researchers collected blood samples of 923 Orange County Fire Authority (OFCA) members via mobile phlebotomy teams that travelled to individual fire stations. The effort was conducted in coordination with OFCA’s annual tuberculosis testing campaign and led by UCI Public Health’s Dr. Verónica Vieira, corresponding author and interim chair of environmental and occupational health. Contributing authors from UCI include doctoral student Ian W. Tang, professor of environmental and occupational health Dr. Scott M. Bartell, and clinical professor of environmental and occupation health Dr. Marion Joseph Fedoruk.
