SARS-CoV-2 Transmission Dynamics in a Sleep-Away Camp

Details

• Alternative Title:
  Pediatrics
• Personal Author:
  Szablewski, Christine M. ; Chang, Karen T. ; McDaniel, Clinton J. ; Chu, Victoria T. ; Yousaf, Anna R. ; Schwartz, Noah G. ; Brown, Marie ; Winglee, Kathryn ; Paul, Prabasaj ; Cui, Zhaohui ; Slayton, Rachel B. ; Tong, Suxiang ; Li, Yan ; Uehara, Anna ; Zhang, Jing ; Sharkey, Sarah M. ; Kirking, Hannah L. ; Tate, Jacqueline E. ; Dirlikov, Emilio ; Fry, Alicia M. ; Hall, Aron J. ; Rose, Dale A. ; Villanueva, Julie ; Drenzek, Cherie ; Stewart, Rebekah J. ; Lanzieri, Tatiana M.
• Corporate Authors:
  Camp Outbreak Field Investigation Team
• Description:
  Objective:
  
  In late June 2020, a large outbreak of COVID-19 occurred at a sleep-away youth camp in Georgia affecting primarily persons ≤ 21 years. We conducted a retrospective cohort study among campers and staff (attendees) to determine the extent of the outbreak and assess factors contributing to transmission.
  
  Methods:
  
  Attendees were interviewed to ascertain demographic characteristics, known exposures to cases and community exposures, and mitigation measures before, during, and after attending camp. COVID-19 case status was determined for all camp attendees based on SARS-CoV-2 test results and reported symptoms. We calculated attack rates and instantaneous reproduction numbers, and sequenced SARS-CoV-2 viral genomes from the outbreak.
  
  Results:
  
  Among 627 attendees, median age was 15 years (interquartile range: 12–16 years); 56% (351/627) were female. The attack rate was 56% (351/627) among all attendees. Based on date of illness onset or first positive specimen collected, 12 cases were infected before arriving at camp, and 339 cases were camp-associated. Among 288 cases with available symptom information, 45 (16%) were asymptomatic. Despite cohorting, 50% of attendees reported direct contact with people outside their cabin cohort. On the first day of camp session, the instantaneous reproduction number was 10. Viral genomic diversity was low.
  
  Conclusions:
  
  Few introductions of SARS-CoV-2 into a youth congregate setting resulted in a large outbreak. Testing strategies should be combined with pre-arrival quarantine, routine symptom monitoring with appropriate isolation and quarantine, cohorting, social distancing, mask wearing, and enhanced disinfection and hand hygiene. Promotion of mitigation measures among younger populations is needed.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Adolescent Adult Camping Child Cohort Studies COVID-19 Disease Outbreaks Female Humans Male Middle Aged Retrospective Studies Young Adult

  More +
• Source:
  Pediatrics. 147(4)
• Pubmed ID:
  33504612
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC8982574
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Funding:
  CC999999/ImCDC/Intramural CDC HHSUnited States/
• Place as Subject:
  Georgia
• Volume:
  147
• Issue:
  4
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:eb061f520bb3bbf939064476119f42e5eb7c7c715f04189a74f3443fae408210
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/116024/cdc_116024_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 681.92 KB ]