The role of staff in transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in long-term care facilities.

ABSTRACT:

Background

U.S. long-term care facilities have experienced a disproportionate burden of COVID-19 morbidity and mortality.

Methods

We examined SARS-CoV-2 transmission among residents and staff in 60 long-term care facilities in Fulton County, Georgia, from March 2020 to September 2021. Using the Wallinga-Teunis method to estimate the time-varying reproduction number, R(t), and linear mixed regression models, we examined associations between case characteristics and R(t).

Results

Case counts, outbreak size and duration, and R(t) declined rapidly and remained low after vaccines were first distributed to long-term care facilities in December 2020, despite increases in community incidence in summer 2021. Staff cases were more infectious than resident cases (average individ

SUBMITTER: Adams C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9345519 | biostudies-literature | 2022 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature