tetano
Editor, Senior Moderator
Public Health
. 2021 Dec 28;204:21-24.
doi: 10.1016/j.puhe.2021.12.018. Online ahead of print.
Impact of SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant (B.1.1.7) on prisons, England
Amoolya Vusirikala[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Joe Flannagan[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Maciej Czachorowski[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Asad Zaidi[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Kate A Twohig[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Emma Plugge[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Nicholas Ellaby[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Wendy Rice[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Gavin Dabrera[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Dimple Y Chudasama[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Theresa Lamagni[SUP] 2 [/SUP]
Affiliations
Abstract
Objectives: Prisons are high-risk settings for infectious disease outbreaks because of their highly dynamic and crowded nature. During late 2020, prisons in England observed a surge in COVID-19 infection. This study describes the emergence of the Alpha variant in prisons during this period.
Methods: Alpha and non-Alpha variant COVID-19 cases were identified in prisoners in England using address-matched laboratory notifications and genomic information from COG-UK.
Results: Of 14,094 COVID-19-positive prisoner cases between 1 October 2020 and 28 March 2021, 11.5% (n = 1621) had sequencing results. Of these, 1082 (66.7%) were identified as the Alpha variant. Twenty-nine (2.7%) Alpha cases required hospitalisation compared with only five (1.0%; P = 0.02) non-Alpha cases. A total of 14 outbreaks were identified with the median attack rate higher for Alpha (17.9%, interquartile range [IQR] 3.2%-32.2%; P = 0.11) than non-Alpha outbreaks (3.5%, IQR 2.0%-10.2%).
Conclusion: Higher attack rates and increased likelihood of hospitalisations were observed for Alpha cases compared with non-Alpha. This suggests a key contribution to the rise in cases, hospitalisations and outbreaks in prisons in the second wave. With prisons prone to COVID-19 outbreaks and the potential to act as reservoirs for variants of concern, sequencing of prison-associated cases alongside whole-institution vaccination should be prioritised.
Keywords: COVID-19; England; Outbreaks; Prisons; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; Whole-genome sequencing.
. 2021 Dec 28;204:21-24.
doi: 10.1016/j.puhe.2021.12.018. Online ahead of print.
Impact of SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant (B.1.1.7) on prisons, England
Amoolya Vusirikala[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Joe Flannagan[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Maciej Czachorowski[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Asad Zaidi[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Kate A Twohig[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Emma Plugge[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Nicholas Ellaby[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Wendy Rice[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Gavin Dabrera[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Dimple Y Chudasama[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Theresa Lamagni[SUP] 2 [/SUP]
Affiliations
- PMID: 35131679
- DOI: 10.1016/j.puhe.2021.12.018
Abstract
Objectives: Prisons are high-risk settings for infectious disease outbreaks because of their highly dynamic and crowded nature. During late 2020, prisons in England observed a surge in COVID-19 infection. This study describes the emergence of the Alpha variant in prisons during this period.
Methods: Alpha and non-Alpha variant COVID-19 cases were identified in prisoners in England using address-matched laboratory notifications and genomic information from COG-UK.
Results: Of 14,094 COVID-19-positive prisoner cases between 1 October 2020 and 28 March 2021, 11.5% (n = 1621) had sequencing results. Of these, 1082 (66.7%) were identified as the Alpha variant. Twenty-nine (2.7%) Alpha cases required hospitalisation compared with only five (1.0%; P = 0.02) non-Alpha cases. A total of 14 outbreaks were identified with the median attack rate higher for Alpha (17.9%, interquartile range [IQR] 3.2%-32.2%; P = 0.11) than non-Alpha outbreaks (3.5%, IQR 2.0%-10.2%).
Conclusion: Higher attack rates and increased likelihood of hospitalisations were observed for Alpha cases compared with non-Alpha. This suggests a key contribution to the rise in cases, hospitalisations and outbreaks in prisons in the second wave. With prisons prone to COVID-19 outbreaks and the potential to act as reservoirs for variants of concern, sequencing of prison-associated cases alongside whole-institution vaccination should be prioritised.
Keywords: COVID-19; England; Outbreaks; Prisons; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; Whole-genome sequencing.