Abstract
We describe the epidemiology of a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in a call center in South Korea. We obtained information on demographic characteristics by using standardized epidemiologic investigation forms. We performed descriptive analyses and reported the results as frequencies and proportions for categoric variables. Of 1,143 persons who were tested for COVID-19, a total of 97 (8.5%, 95% CI 7.0%–10.3%) had confirmed cases. Of these, 94 were working in an 11th-floor call center with 216 employees, translating to an attack rate of 43.5% (95% CI 36.9%–50.4%). The household secondary attack rate among symptomatic case-patients was 16.2% (95% CI 11.6%– 22.0%). Of the 97 persons with confirmed COVID-19, only 4 (1.9%) remained asymptomatic within 14 days of quarantine, and none of their household contacts acquired secondary infections. Extensive contact tracing, testing all contacts, and early quarantine blocked further transmission and might be effective for containing rapid outbreaks in crowded work settings.
Highlights
We describe the epidemiology of a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in a call center in South Korea
Most (94 [96.9%]) of the confirmed case-patients were working on the 11th-floor call center, which had a total of 216 employees, resulting in an attack rate of 43.5% (Table 1; Figure 2)
We described the epidemiologic characteristics of a COVID-19 outbreak centered in a call center in South Korea
Summary
We describe the epidemiology of a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in a call center in South Korea. The household secondary attack rate among symptomatic case-patients was 16.2% (95% CI 11.6%– 22.0%). Of the 97 persons with confirmed COVID-19, only 4 (1.9%) remained asymptomatic within 14 days of quarantine, and none of their household contacts acquired secondary infections. Extensive contact tracing, testing all contacts, and early quarantine blocked further transmission and might be effective for containing rapid outbreaks in crowded work settings. In March 2020, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC), South Korea’s nationallevel public health authority, was informed about a cluster of cases of COVID-19 in a call center located in a commercial–residential mixed-use building (building X) in the capital city of Seoul. We describe the epidemiology of this COVID-19 outbreak and detail the containment efforts to limit the spread of the disease
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