April 15, 2020

COVID-19 outbreak at a large homeless shelter in Boston: Implications for universal testing

Category: Article Summary

Topic: Transmission

• Baggett et al describe rapid transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in homeless shelter in Boston, where 36% (147/408) inhabitants tested positive. Positive individuals were more likely to be male, but did not differ significantly from COVID-negative individuals with respect to other demographic and clinical characteristics. Signs like cough, shortness of breath, and fever were all uncommon among COVID-positive individuals. This report illustrates the rapidity with which COVID-19 can be widely transmitted without a clearly overt clinical disease episodes in a homeless shelter setting.

Baggett et al. (April 15, 2020). COVID-19 outbreak at a large homeless shelter in Boston: Implications for universal testing. Pre-print downloaded Apr 15 from https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.04.12.20059618