Abstract
OBJECTIVESCoronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreaks in general hospitals are particularly risky because they not only overburden the regional healthcare delivery system, but also increase the possibility of community transmission. This study shares an experience of a COVID-19 outbreak response in a general hospital in Gyeonggi Province, Korea.METHODSSince the first COVID-19 confirmed case was recognized in Hospital A on March 29, 2020, the Immediate Response Team of Gyeonggi Province and Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency devised a plan to conduct an epidemiological investigation and minimize the paralysis of hospital functions. Apart from the epidemiological investigation, a risk assessment of the hospital and management of contacts, including patients and workers, were also undertaken.RESULTSIn total, 72 confirmed cases were identified, including 26 hospitalized patients, 16 healthcare personnel, 7 visitors, and 22 cases identified externally. The majority of the confirmed cases were exposed in Ward B or were contacts of people exposed in Ward A (58.3% of 72 cases). Among healthcare personnel, caregivers were found to be the most vulnerable to COVID-19 in this outbreak.CONCLUSIONSPreparation for all possible situations in medical facilities is important because it is difficult to find alternative resources. The findings of this study provide information on controlling the further transmission of COVID-19 and furnish evidence of the importance of ordinary management skills to be prepared for COVID-19.
Highlights
Since the first case of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was reported in China on December 31, 2019, a sharp increase in the number of confirmed cases was observed worldwide [1,2,3]
After the detection of the first case, the COVID-19 Immediate Response Team (IRT) of Gyeonggi Province and the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) conducted a risk assessment of the case and concluded that it had the possibility to grow into a sizable cluster because most of the contacts were related to Hospital A and nursing homes
A general hospital is a place where patients are vulnerable to infection [11], and a place where various types of medical workers who are commute from the community to the hospital move around freely [12,13]
Summary
Since the first case of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was reported in China on December 31, 2019, a sharp increase in the number of confirmed cases was observed worldwide [1,2,3]. Clusters related to general hospitals are riskier than other clusters because these outbreaks overburden the regional healthcare delivery system, and increase the possibility of community transmission [6,8,9]. After the detection of the first case, the COVID-19 Immediate Response Team (IRT) of Gyeonggi Province and the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) conducted a risk assessment of the case and concluded that it had the possibility to grow into a sizable cluster because most of the contacts were related to Hospital A and nursing homes. This study analyzed the epidemiological characteristics of this hospital-involved COVID19 outbreak and described the efforts of the IRT and KDCA to prevent further transmission of COVID-19
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