The contribution of hospital-acquired infections to the COVID-19 epidemic in England in the first half of 2020.

ABSTRACT: Background SARS-CoV-2 is known to transmit in hospital settings, but the contribution of infections acquired in hospitals to the epidemic at a national scale is unknown. Methods We used comprehensive national English datasets to determine the number of COVID-19 patients with identified hospital-acquired infections (with symptom onset >7 days after admission and before discharge) in acute English hospitals up to August 2020. As patients may leave the hospital prior to detection of infection or have rapid symptom onset, we combined measures of the length of stay and the incubation period distribution to estimate how many hospital-acquired infections may have been missed. We used simulations to estimate the total number (identified and unidentified) of symptomatic hospital-acqui

SUBMITTER: Knight G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8902876 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature