Factors preventing SARS-CoV-2 transmission during unintentional exposure in a GP practice: a cohort study of patient contacts; Germany, 2020

T Sonia Boender; Jennifer K Bender; Angelika Krüger; Kai Michaelis; Udo Buchholz

doi:10.1017/S0950268821001503

Factors preventing SARS-CoV-2 transmission during unintentional exposure in a GP practice: a cohort study of patient contacts; Germany, 2020

T Sonia Boender
, Jennifer K Bender
, Angelika Krüger
, Kai Michaelis
, Udo Buchholz

Health Sciences

Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

Two general practitioners (GPs) with SARS-CoV-2 infection provided in-person patient care to patients of their joint medical practice before and after symptom onset, up until SARS-CoV-2 laboratory confirmation. Through active contact tracing, the local public health authorities recruited the cohort of patients that had contact with either GP in their putative infectious period. In this cohort of patient contacts, we assess the frequency and determinants of SARS-CoV-2-transmission from GPs to patients. We calculated incidence rate ratios (IRR) to explore the type of contact as an explanatory variable for COVID-19 cases. Among the cohort of 83 patient contacts, we identified 22 (27%) COVID-19 cases including 17 (21%) possible, three (4%) probable and two (2%) confirmed cases. All 22 cases had contact with a GP when the GP did not wear a mask, and/or when contact was ≥10 min. Importantly, patients who had contact <10 min with a GP wearing a facemask were at reduced risk (IRR 0.21; 95% CI 0.01-0.99) of COVID-19. This outbreak investigation adds to the body of evidence in supporting current guidelines on measures at preventing the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in an outpatient setting.

Original language	English
Article number	e161
Pages (from-to)	1-5
Number of pages	5
Journal	Epidemiology and Infection
Volume	149
Early online date	2 Jul 2021
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1017/S0950268821001503
Publication status	Published - 2021

Funding

Conflict of interest. No conflict of interest reported. TSB and JKB are fellows of the ECDC Fellowship Programme, supported financially by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). The views and opinions expressed herein do not state or reflect those of ECDC. ECDC is not responsible for the data and information collation and analysis and cannot be held liable for conclusions or opinions drawn. We thank the Robert Koch Institute's team supporting the interviews: Katharina Alpers, Nicu Anghel, Mona Askar, Eva Feuerhahn, Christina Frank, Jane Hecht, Alexandra Holzer, Anja Klingeberg, Teresa Nygren, Andreas Reich, Viktoria Schönfeld, Doreen Staat, Jan Walter, and especially Felix Moek for the organisation. We further thank Merle Böhmer from the federal state public health authority and the local public health authorities, especially Clara Vicén Renner for carrying out several interviews. Last but not least, we very much appreciate and thank all participants of the study.

Funders	Funder number
European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control
Robert Koch Institut
UK Research and Innovation	51577

Keywords

Adult
Aged, 80 and over
COVID-19/prevention & control
Cohort Studies
Contact Tracing
Female
General Practitioners
Germany
Humans
Infectious Disease Transmission, Professional-to-Patient
Male
Middle Aged
SARS-CoV-2
Young Adult

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title = "Factors preventing SARS-CoV-2 transmission during unintentional exposure in a GP practice: a cohort study of patient contacts; Germany, 2020",

abstract = "Two general practitioners (GPs) with SARS-CoV-2 infection provided in-person patient care to patients of their joint medical practice before and after symptom onset, up until SARS-CoV-2 laboratory confirmation. Through active contact tracing, the local public health authorities recruited the cohort of patients that had contact with either GP in their putative infectious period. In this cohort of patient contacts, we assess the frequency and determinants of SARS-CoV-2-transmission from GPs to patients. We calculated incidence rate ratios (IRR) to explore the type of contact as an explanatory variable for COVID-19 cases. Among the cohort of 83 patient contacts, we identified 22 (27\%) COVID-19 cases including 17 (21\%) possible, three (4\%) probable and two (2\%) confirmed cases. All 22 cases had contact with a GP when the GP did not wear a mask, and/or when contact was ≥10 min. Importantly, patients who had contact <10 min with a GP wearing a facemask were at reduced risk (IRR 0.21; 95\% CI 0.01-0.99) of COVID-19. This outbreak investigation adds to the body of evidence in supporting current guidelines on measures at preventing the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in an outpatient setting.",

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Factors preventing SARS-CoV-2 transmission during unintentional exposure in a GP practice: a cohort study of patient contacts; Germany, 2020

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