Sporadic outbreaks of healthcare-associated COVID-19 infection in a highly-vaccinated inpatient population during a community outbreak of the B.1.617.2 variant: The role of enhanced infection-prevention measures
Epidemiological investigation and sequencing identified B.1.617.2 hospital clusters.
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Despite high vaccination rates and N95 usage, sporadic transmission occurred.
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Unvaccinated and immunocompromised patients remain at-risk.
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More transmissible severe-acute-respiratory-syndrome-coronavirus-2 variants challenge containment efforts.
Abstract
Sporadic clusters of health care-associated COVID-19 infection occurred in a highly vaccinated health care-workers and patient population, over a 3-month period during ongoing community transmission of the B.1.617.2 variant. Enhanced infection-prevention measures and robust surveillance systems, including routine-rostered-testing of all inpatients and staff and usage of N95-respirators in all clinical areas, were insufficient in achieving zero health care-associated transmission. The unvaccinated and immunocompromised remain at-risk and should be prioritized for enhanced surveillance.
Key words
SARS-CoV-2
Hospital
Antigen test
Outbreak
Infection control
Nosocomial
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Conflicts of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest.
Ethics approval and consent to participate: This study was conducted as part of outbreak-investigation; ethics approval was not required under our institutional-review-board guidelines.
