Rate of COVID-19 infection in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction.

Background: The incidence of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) has not been fully described. Methods: All patients with STEMI undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in Ontario, Canada between March 1st and September 30th, 2020 were included. Rates of positive COVID-19 tests from January 1st, 2020 to the date of STEMI were ascertained. For comparison, COVID-19 results were also evaluated in the adult Ontario population between January 1st, 2020 to September 30th, 2020 using provincial laboratory testing data. Results: There were 3,606 unique patients presenting with STEMI and receiving PCI in Ontario, Canada during the study period. Sixteen patients (0.44%) tested positive for COVID-19. The background infection rate among all 12,448,541 Ontario residents was similar at 0.34%. Conclusions: The results of this population-based analysis suggest that proceeding with primary PCI with appropriate infection control practices is reasonable when community infection rates are low.