Management of a Hospital-Wide COVID-19 Outbreak Affecting Patients and Healthcare Workers
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COVID-19
Management of a Hospital-Wide COVID-19 Outbreak Affecting Patients and Healthcare Workers Steffen Höring 1 & René Fussen 1 & Johannes Neusser 1 & Michael Kleines 2 & Thea Laurentius 3 & Leo Cornelius Bollheimer 3 & Doris Keller 4 & Sebastian Lemmen 1 Accepted: 15 October 2020 # The Author(s) 2020
Abstract To the best of our knowledge, here, we describe the first hospital-wide outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 that occurred in Germany in April 2020. We aim to share our experience in order to facilitate the management of nosocomial COVID-19 outbreaks in healthcare facilities. All patients and hospital workers were screened for SARS-CoV-2 repeatedly. An infection control team on the side was installed. Strict spatial separation of patients and intensified hygiene training of healthcare workers (HCW) were initiated. By the time of reporting, 26 patients and 21 hospital workers were infected with a cluster of cases in the geriatric department. Fourteen patients developed COVID-19 consistent symptoms and five patients with severe pre-existing medical conditions died. The outbreak was successfully contained after intensified infection control measures were implemented and no further cases among patients were detected over a period of 14 days. Strict application of standard infection control measures proved to be successful in the management of nosocomial SARS-CoV-2 outbreaks. Keywords COVID-19 . Infection control . SARS-CoV-2 . Nosocomial outbreak
Introduction Since the beginning of the novel coronavirus disease pandemic (COVID-19), inadvertent exposure of hospitalized patients and HCW to severe respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has been a major concern [1]. Here, we report
Steffen Höring and René Fussen contributed equally to this work. This article is part of the Topical Collection on COVID-19 Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s42399-020-00597-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * Steffen Höring [email protected] 1
Division of Infection Control and Infectious Diseases, Medical Faculty, RWTH Aachen University Hospital, Aachen, Germany
2
Laboratory Diagnostic Center, RWTH Aachen University Hospital, Aachen, Germany
3
Department of Geriatric Medicine, RWTH Aachen University Hospital, Aachen, Germany
4
University Medical Center for Occupational Medicine, RWTH University, Aachen, Germany
a large nosocomial outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 that occurred at a satellite hospital of the University Hospital Aachen, Germany, with 26 patients and 21 healthcare workers infected. The hospital, a formerly church-run facility, was integrated to the University Hospital in January 2020, hosting a geriatric department, a dermatological ward, and a mixed ward for multiple surgical disciplines with 170 beds in total. Located in Aachen, the hospital is situated in close proximity to the district of Heinsberg, the region where community transmission of SARS-CoV-2 was first observed in Germany and where the cumulative incidence
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