SARS-CoV-2 in Nursing Homes after 3 Months of Serial, Facilitywide Point Prevalence Testing, Connecticut, USA

• Main Authors: Hanna Y. Ehrlich, Adora Harizaj, Lauren Campbell, McKenzie Colt, Karen Yuan, Therese Rabatsky-Ehr, Daniel M. Weinberger, Vivian Leung, Linda M. Niccolai, Sunil Parikh
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2021-05-01
• Series: Emerging Infectious Diseases
• Subjects: COVID-19; coronavirus disease; SARS-CoV-2; severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; viruses; respiratory infections
• Online Access: https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/27/5/20-4936_article
• ISSN: 1080-6040; 1080-6059

Nursing homes house populations that are highly vulnerable to coronavirus disease. Point prevalence surveys (PPSs) provide information on the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection status of staff and residents in nursing homes and enable isolation of infectious persons to halt disease spread. We collected 16 weeks of public health surveillance data on a subset of nursing homes (34/212) in Connecticut, USA. We fit a Poisson regression model to evaluate the association between incidence and time since serial PPS onset, adjusting for decreasing community incidence and other factors. Nursing homes conducted a combined total of 205 PPSs in staff and 232 PPSs in residents. PPS was associated with 41%–80% reduction in incidence rate in nursing homes. Our findings provide support for the use of repeated PPSs in nursing home staff and residents, combined with strong infection prevention measures such as cohorting, in contributing to outbreak control.