Facility-Wide Testing for SARS-CoV-2 in Nursing Homes

Hatfield, et al. (2020) observe that :Undetected infection with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) contributes to transmission in nursing homes, settings where large outbreaks with high resident mortality have occurred. Facility-wide testing of residents and healthcare personnel (HCP) can identify asymptomatic and presymptomatic infections and facilitate infection prevention and control interventions. Seven state or local health departments conducted initial facility-wide testing of residents and staff members in 288 nursing homes during March 24–June 14, 2020. Two of the seven health departments conducted testing in 195 nursing homes as part of facility-wide testing all nursing homes in their state, which were in low-incidence areas (i.e., the median preceding 14-day cumulative incidence in the surrounding county for each jurisdiction was 19 and 38 cases per 100,000 persons); 125 of the 195 nursing homes had not reported any COVID-19 cases
before the testing. Ninety-five of 22,977 (0.4%) persons tested in 29 (23%) of these 125 facilities had positive SARS-CoV-2 test results. The other five health departments targeted facilitywide testing to 93 nursing homes, where 13,443 persons were tested, and 1,619 (12%) had positive SARS-CoV-2 test results."

The researchers report further, "In regression analyses among 88 of these nursing homes with a documented case before facility-wide testing occurred, each additional day between identification of the first case and completion of facility-wide testing was associated with identification of 1.3 additional cases. Among 62 facilities that could differentiate results by resident and HCP status, an estimated 1.3 HCP cases were identified for every three resident cases. Performing facility-wide testing immediately after identification of a case commonly identifies additional unrecognized cases and, therefore, might maximize the benefits of infection prevention and control interventions. In contrast, facilitywide testing in low-incidence areas without a case has a lower proportion of test positivity; strategies are needed to further
optimize testing in these settings."

Reference: Hatfield KM, et al. Facility-Wide Testing for SARS-CoV-2 in Nursing Homes — Seven U.S. Jurisdictions, March–June 2020. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Aug. 11, 2020. https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr

Be the first to comment on "Facility-Wide Testing for SARS-CoV-2 in Nursing Homes"

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published.


*