Work

Coordinated outreach for veterans in long-term care facilities by an integrated Veterans Affairs healthcare system during the COVID-19 pandemic

Year: 2020

Type: letter

Abstract: and report additional cases to public health authorities for investigation.Finding these previously undetected cases increased our COVID-19 reports to the public health department by 62%.The public health value added by surveillance and investigation of probable COVID-19 will become less clear as testing availability increases.Illustrating this point is our finding that, among the patients who would have been probable COVID-19 cases without being tested, fewer than 10% tested positive for SARS-CoV-2.Our findings highlight the need for more widespread testing for SARS-CoV-2 to appropriately allocate scare public health resources for COVID-19 investigation, isolation, and contact tracing.

Source: Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology

DOI: 10.1017/ice.2020.326