Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dsjbd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T01:02:16.138Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Hospital-acquired coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) among patients of two acute-care hospitals: Implications for surveillance

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 April 2022

William E. Trick*
Affiliation:
Health Research & Solutions, Cook County Health, Chicago, Illinois Department of Medicine, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, Illinois
Carlos A. Q. Santos
Affiliation:
Department of Medicine, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, Illinois
Sharon Welbel
Affiliation:
Department of Medicine, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, Illinois Division of Infectious Diseases, Cook County Health, Chicago, Illinois
Marion Tseng
Affiliation:
Medical Research Analytics and Informatics Alliance, Chicago, Illinois
Huiyuan Zhang
Affiliation:
Health Research & Solutions, Cook County Health, Chicago, Illinois
Onofre Donceras
Affiliation:
Division of Infectious Diseases, Cook County Health, Chicago, Illinois
Ashley I. Martinez
Affiliation:
Alzheimer’s Disease Center, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, Illinois
Michael Y. Lin
Affiliation:
Department of Medicine, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, Illinois
*
Author for correspondence: William Trick, E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract

Objectives:

We quantified hospital-acquired coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) during the early phases of the pandemic, and we evaluated solely temporal determinations of hospital acquisition.

Design:

Retrospective observational study during early phases of the COVID-19 pandemic, March 1–November 30, 2020. We identified laboratory-detected severe acute respiratory coronavirus virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) from 30 days before admission through discharge. All cases detected after hospital day 5 were categorized by chart review as community or unlikely hospital-acquired cases, or possible or probable hospital-acquired cases.

Setting:

The study was conducted in 2 acute-care hospitals in Chicago, Illinois.

Patients:

The study included all hospitalized patients including an inpatient rehabilitation unit.

Interventions:

Each hospital implemented infection-control precautions soon after identifying COVID-19 cases, including patient and staff cohort protocols, universal masking, and restricted visitation policies.

Results:

Among 2,667 patients with SARS-CoV-2, detection before hospital day 6 was most common (n = 2,612; 98%); detection during hospital days 6–14 was uncommon (n = 43; 1.6%); and detection after hospital day 14 was rare (n = 16; 0.6%). By chart review, most cases after day 5 were categorized as community acquired, usually because SARS-CoV-2 had been detected at a prior healthcare facility (68% of cases on days 6–14 and 53% of cases after day 14). The incidence rates of possible and probable hospital-acquired cases per 10,000 patient days were similar for ICU- and non-ICU patients at hospital A (1.2 vs 1.3 difference, 0.1; 95% CI, −2.8 to 3.0) and hospital B (2.8 vs 1.2 difference, 1.6; 95% CI, −0.1 to 4.0).

Conclusions:

Most patients were protected by early and sustained application of infection-control precautions modified to reduce SARS-CoV-2 transmission. Using solely temporal criteria to discriminate hospital versus community acquisition would have misclassified many “late onset” SARS-CoV-2–positive cases.

Type
Original Article
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Zhu, N, Zhang, D, Wang, W, et al. A novel coronavirus from patients with pneumonia in China, 2019. N Engl J Med 2020;382:727733.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jefferson, T, Del Mar, CB, Dooley, L, et al. Physical interventions to interrupt or reduce the spread of respiratory viruses. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2020;11:CD006207.Google ScholarPubMed
Infection prevention and control of epidemic-and pandemic-prone acute respiratory infections in health care. World Health Organization website. http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/112656/1/9789241507134_eng.pdf. Published 2014. Accessed April 14, 2022.Google Scholar
Novel coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) resources. Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America website. https://shea-online.org/index.php/practice-resources/priority-topics/emerging-pathogens/novel-coronavirus-2019-2019-ncov-resources/2-uncategorised/748-shea-specific-covid-19-response. Published 2020. Accessed April 14, 2022.Google Scholar
Wang, X, Zhou, Q, He, Y, et al. Nosocomial outbreak of COVID-19 pneumonia in Wuhan, China. Eur Respir J 2020;55:2000544.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wang, D, Hu, B, Hu, C, et al. Clinical characteristics of 138 hospitalized patients with 2019 novel coronavirus-infected pneumonia in Wuhan, China. JAMA 2020;323:10611069.Google ScholarPubMed
Petersen, E, Koopmans, M, Go, U, et al. Comparing SARS-CoV-2 with SARS-CoV and influenza pandemics. Lancet Infect Dis 2020;20:e238e244.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wilson, E, Donovan, CV, Campbell, M, et al. Multiple COVID-19 clusters on a university campus—North Carolina, August 2020. Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2020;69:14161418.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Heinzerling, A, Stuckey, MJ, Scheuer, T, et al. Transmission of COVID-19 to healthcare personnel during exposures to a hospitalized patient—Solano County, California, February 2020. Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2020;69:472476.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rhee, C, Baker, M, Vaidya, V, et al. Incidence of nosocomial COVID-19 in patients hospitalized at a large US academic medical center. JAMA Netw Open 2020;3:e2020498.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baker, MA, Fiumara, K, Rhee, C, et al. Low risk of COVID-19 among patients exposed to infected healthcare workers. Clin Infect Dis 2021;73:e1878e1880.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Multidrug-resistant organism and Clostridioides difficile (MDRO/CDI) infection surveillance and LabID event reporting module. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website. https://www.cdc.gov/nhsn/psc/cdiff/index.html. Accessed November 29, 2021.Google Scholar
Fleurence, RL, Curtis, LH, Califf, RM, Platt, R, Selby, JV, Brown, JS. Launching PCORnet, a national patient-centered clinical research network. J Am Med Inform Assoc 2014;21:578582.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Xie, Y, Wang, Z, Liao, H, Marley, G, Wu, D, Tang, W. Epidemiologic, clinical, and laboratory findings of the COVID-19 in the current pandemic: systematic review and meta-analysis. BMC Infect Dis 2020;20:640.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Carter, B, Collins, JT, Barlow-Pay, F, et al. Nosocomial COVID-19 infection: examining the risk of mortality. The COPE-Nosocomial Study (COVID in Older PEople). J Hosp Infect 2020;106:376384.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Taylor, J, Rangaiah, J, Narasimhan, S, et al. Nosocomial COVID-19: experience from a large acute NHS Trust in south-west London. J Hosp Infect 2020;106:621625.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lauer, SA, Grantz, KH, Bi, Q, et al. The incubation period of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) from publicly reported confirmed cases: estimation and application. Ann Intern Med 2020;172:577582.Google ScholarPubMed
Arons, MM, Hatfield, KM, Reddy, SC, et al. Presymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infections and transmission in a skilled nursing facility. N Engl J Med 2020;382:20812090.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Adam, DC, Wu, P, Wong, JY, et al. Clustering and superspreading potential of SARS-CoV-2 infections in Hong Kong. Nat Med 2020;26:17141719.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Munshi, L, Evans, G, Razak, F. The case for relaxing no-visitor policies in hospitals during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. CMAJ 2021;193:E135E137.Google ScholarPubMed
Wei, WE, Fook-Chong, S, Chen, WK, Chlebicki, MP, Gan, WH. The impact of healthcare worker influenza vaccination on nosocomial influenza in a tertiary hospital: an ecological study. BMC Health Serv Res 2020;20:636.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Trick, WE, Badri, S, Doshi, K, et al. Epidemiology of COVID-19 vs influenza: differential failure of COVID-19 mitigation among Hispanics, Cook County Health, Illinois. PLoS One 2021;16:e0240202.Google ScholarPubMed
Zhou, Q, Gao, Y, Wang, X, et al. Nosocomial infections among patients with COVID-19, SARS and MERS: a rapid review and meta-analysis. Ann Transl Med 2020;8:629.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wang, X, Zhou, Q, He, Y, et al. Nosocomial outbreak of COVID-19 pneumonia in Wuhan, China. Eur Respir J 2020;55:200544.Google ScholarPubMed
Yu, J, Ouyang, W, Chua, MLK, Xie, C. SARS-CoV-2 transmission in patients with cancer at a tertiary care hospital in Wuhan, China. JAMA Oncol 2020;6:11081110.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Li, N, Wang, X, Lv, T. Prolonged SARS-CoV-2 RNA shedding: not a rare phenomenon. J Med Virol 2020;92:22862287.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cheng, VC, Fung, KS, Siu, GK, et al. Nosocomial outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 by possible airborne transmission leading to a superspreading event. Clin Infect Dis 2021;73:e1356e1364.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Klompas, M, Baker, MA, Rhee, C, et al. A SARS-CoV-2 cluster in an acute-care hospital. Ann Intern Med 2021;174:794802.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huang, C, Wang, Y, Li, X, et al. Clinical features of patients infected with 2019 novel coronavirus in Wuhan, China. Lancet 2020;395:497506.Google ScholarPubMed