Genomic epidemiology of COVID-19 in care homes in the east of England.



Hamilton, William L ORCID: 0000-0002-3330-353X, Tonkin-Hill, Gerry ORCID: 0000-0003-4397-2224, Smith, Emily R ORCID: 0000-0003-4925-467X, Aggarwal, Dinesh ORCID: 0000-0002-5938-8172, Houldcroft, Charlotte J ORCID: 0000-0002-1833-5285, Warne, Ben ORCID: 0000-0003-1326-0373, Meredith, Luke W, Hosmillo, Myra ORCID: 0000-0002-3514-7681, Jahun, Aminu S ORCID: 0000-0002-4585-1701, Curran, Martin D
et al (show 28 more authors) (2021) Genomic epidemiology of COVID-19 in care homes in the east of England. eLife, 10. e64618-.

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Abstract

COVID-19 poses a major challenge to care homes, as SARS-CoV-2 is readily transmitted and causes disproportionately severe disease in older people. Here, 1167 residents from 337 care homes were identified from a dataset of 6600 COVID-19 cases from the East of England. Older age and being a care home resident were associated with increased mortality. SARS-CoV-2 genomes were available for 700 residents from 292 care homes. By integrating genomic and temporal data, 409 viral clusters within the 292 homes were identified, indicating two different patterns - outbreaks among care home residents and independent introductions with limited onward transmission. Approximately 70% of residents in the genomic analysis were admitted to hospital during the study, providing extensive opportunities for transmission between care homes and hospitals. Limiting viral transmission within care homes should be a key target for infection control to reduce COVID-19 mortality in this population.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: COVID-19 Genomics Consortium UK, Humans, Sequence Analysis, Disease Outbreaks, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Time Factors, Aged, 80 and over, Nursing Homes, England, Female, Male, Infectious Disease Transmission, Professional-to-Patient, Infectious Disease Transmission, Patient-to-Professional, COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2
Divisions: Faculty of Health and Life Sciences
Faculty of Health and Life Sciences > Institute of Infection, Veterinary and Ecological Sciences
Depositing User: Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited: 15 Mar 2022 16:04
Last Modified: 11 Mar 2023 02:56
DOI: 10.7554/elife.64618
Related URLs:
URI: https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3150638