COVID-19 outbreak following a single patient exposure at an entertainment site: An epidemiological study.

ABSTRACT

We investigated an outbreak of COVID-19 infection, which was traced back to a bathing pool at an entertainment venue, to explore the epidemiology of the outbreak, understand the transmissibility of the virus and analyse the influencing factors. Contact investigation and management were conducted to identify potential cases. Epidemiological investigation was carried out to determine the epidemiological and demographic characteristics of the outbreak. We estimated the secondary attack rate (SAR), incubation time and time-dependent reproductive number (Rt ) and explored the predisposing factors for cluster infection. The incubation time was 5.4 days and the serial interval (SI) was 4.4 days, with the rate of negative-valued SIs at 24.5%. The SAR at the bathing pool (3.3%) was relatively low due to its high temperature and humidity. The SAR was higher in the colleagues' cluster (20.5%) than in the family cluster (11.8%). Super-spreaders had a longer isolation delay time (p = .004). The Rt of the cluster decreased from the highest value of 3.88 on January 27, 2020 to 1.22 on February 6. Our findings suggest that the predisposing factors of the outbreak included close contact with an infected person, airtight and crowded spaces, temperature and humidity in the space and untimely isolation of patients and quarantine of contacts at the early stage of transmission. Measures to reduce the risk of infection at these gatherings and subsequent tracking of close contacts were effective.