Alliance for Pandemic Preparedness

September 10, 2020

Incidence of Nosocomial COVID-19 in Patients Hospitalized at a Large US Academic Medical Center

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• Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 within the hospital (nosocomial infection) was rare during the height of the pandemic in a cohort study of patients (n=9149) hospitalized over a 12-week period at a large academic medical center with rigorous infection control measures. Only 2% (12/697) of hospitalized COVID-19 patients first tested positive on hospital day 3 or later. Of these, only 1 case was deemed to be hospital acquired, most likely from a presymptomatic spouse who was visiting daily and diagnosed with COVID-19 before visitor restrictions and masking were implemented. Eleven of 8,379 (0.1%) patients with non-COVID-19-related hospitalizations tested positive within 14 days of hospital discharge and only 1 case was determined likely to be hospital acquired, albeit with no known exposures.

Rhee et al. (Sept 9, 2020). Incidence of Nosocomial COVID-19 in Patients Hospitalized at a Large US Academic Medical Center. JAMA Network Open. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.20498