tetano
Editor, Senior Moderator
Epidemiol Health
. 2021 Apr 14;e2021024.
doi: 10.4178/epih.e2021024. Online ahead of print.
Epidemiologic Characteristics of a COVID-19 Outbreak Caused by Religious Activities in Daegu, Korea
Jong-Yeon Kim[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Yu-Mi Lee[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Hwajin Lee[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Jung-Whan Kim[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Shin-Woo Kim[SUP] 3 [/SUP]
Affiliations
Abstract
Objectives: A coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak triggered by religious activities occurred in Daegu, South Korea in February 2020. This outbreak spread rapidly to the community through high-risk groups. This study describes the characteristics of the COVID-19 cases based on S religious group membership and summarizes Daegu City's processes and responses to control the outbreak.
Methods: Epidemiologic characteristics of confirmed cases were obtained through basic and in-depth epidemiological surveys. General characteristics, asymptomatic proportion, case-fatality rates, and time-to-event within each group were presented after stratifying confirmed cases according to S religious group membership.
Results: Overall, 7,008 COVID-19 cases were confirmed in Daegu from February 18 to June 30, 2020, and 61.5% (n=4,309) were S religious group members. Compared with non-members, members had a higher proportion of women (p<0.001), younger age (p<0.001), and lower disease prevalence. Asymptomatic cases included 38.4% of members and 23.7% of non-members (p<0.001) at the time of the investigation. The case-fatality rate of non-members aged ?60 years was significantly higher than that of members (p<0.001). Compared with non-members, the durations of symptom onset to diagnosis (p<0.001) and diagnosis to admission (p<0.001) of members were longer, whereas the duration of admission to discharge (p<0.001) was shorter.
Conclusion: The epidemiologic features of S religious group members, including asymptomatic proportion, case-fatality rate, and time-to-event, differed from non-members. Daegu City prevented further spread of COVID-19 through immediate isolation and active screening tests of all S religious group members.
Keywords: COVID-19; Coronavirus; Daegu; Disease Outbreaks; Epidemiological Investigation; Religious activities.
. 2021 Apr 14;e2021024.
doi: 10.4178/epih.e2021024. Online ahead of print.
Epidemiologic Characteristics of a COVID-19 Outbreak Caused by Religious Activities in Daegu, Korea
Jong-Yeon Kim[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Yu-Mi Lee[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Hwajin Lee[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Jung-Whan Kim[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Shin-Woo Kim[SUP] 3 [/SUP]
Affiliations
- PMID: 33872485
- DOI: 10.4178/epih.e2021024
Abstract
Objectives: A coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak triggered by religious activities occurred in Daegu, South Korea in February 2020. This outbreak spread rapidly to the community through high-risk groups. This study describes the characteristics of the COVID-19 cases based on S religious group membership and summarizes Daegu City's processes and responses to control the outbreak.
Methods: Epidemiologic characteristics of confirmed cases were obtained through basic and in-depth epidemiological surveys. General characteristics, asymptomatic proportion, case-fatality rates, and time-to-event within each group were presented after stratifying confirmed cases according to S religious group membership.
Results: Overall, 7,008 COVID-19 cases were confirmed in Daegu from February 18 to June 30, 2020, and 61.5% (n=4,309) were S religious group members. Compared with non-members, members had a higher proportion of women (p<0.001), younger age (p<0.001), and lower disease prevalence. Asymptomatic cases included 38.4% of members and 23.7% of non-members (p<0.001) at the time of the investigation. The case-fatality rate of non-members aged ?60 years was significantly higher than that of members (p<0.001). Compared with non-members, the durations of symptom onset to diagnosis (p<0.001) and diagnosis to admission (p<0.001) of members were longer, whereas the duration of admission to discharge (p<0.001) was shorter.
Conclusion: The epidemiologic features of S religious group members, including asymptomatic proportion, case-fatality rate, and time-to-event, differed from non-members. Daegu City prevented further spread of COVID-19 through immediate isolation and active screening tests of all S religious group members.
Keywords: COVID-19; Coronavirus; Daegu; Disease Outbreaks; Epidemiological Investigation; Religious activities.