Social Distancing Alters the Clinical Course of COVID-19 in Young Adults: A Comparative Cohort Study.
Clin Infect Dis
; 72(4): 598-603, 2021 02 16.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-32594121
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Social distancing and stringent hygiene seem to be effective in reducing the number of transmitted virus particles, and therefore the infectivity, of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and could alter the mode of transmission of the disease. However, it is not known if such practices can change the clinical course in infected individuals.METHODS:
We prospectively studied an outbreak of COVID-19 in Switzerland among a population of 508 predominantly male soldiers with a median age of 21 years. We followed the number of infections in 2 spatially separated cohorts with almost identical baseline characteristics with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) before and after implementation of stringent social distancing.RESULTS:
Of the 354 soldiers infected prior to the implementation of social distancing, 30% fell ill from COVID-19, while no soldier in a group of 154, in which infections appeared after implementation of social distancing, developed COVID-19 despite the detection of viral RNA in the nasal and virus-specific antibodies within this group.CONCLUSIONS:
Social distancing not only can slow the spread of SARS-CoV-2 in a cohort of young, healthy adults but it can also prevent the outbreak of COVID-19 while still inducing an immune response and colonizing nasal passages. Viral inoculum during infection or mode of transmission may be a key factor determining the clinical course of COVID-19.Palavras-chave
Texto completo:
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Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Distanciamento Físico
/
COVID-19
Idioma:
En
Ano de publicação:
2021
Tipo de documento:
Article