Epidemic history investigation: a new method of finding close contacts

作者全名："Li, Xin; Li, Yalan; Liu, Tianjiao; Ding, Rui; Hou, Qiannan; Xiong, Liling; Du, Na; Gong, Zhaolin; Cheng, Linbo; Luo, Dan; Wei, Sumei; Yang, Xiao"

作者地址："[Li, Xin; Liu, Tianjiao; Hou, Qiannan; Xiong, Liling; Gong, Zhaolin; Cheng, Linbo; Luo, Dan; Wei, Sumei; Yang, Xiao] Univ Elect Sci & Technol China, Chengdu Womens & Childrens Cent Hosp, Sch Med, Chengdu, Peoples R China; [Li, Yalan; Du, Na] Univ Elect Sci & Technol China, Peoples Hosp Chengdu 4, Sch Med, Chengdu, Peoples R China; [Ding, Rui] Chongqing Med Univ, Clin Coll 1, Chongqing, Peoples R China"

通信作者："Luo, D; Wei, SM; Yang, X (通讯作者)，Univ Elect Sci & Technol China, Chengdu Womens & Childrens Cent Hosp, Sch Med, Chengdu, Peoples R China."

来源：FRONTIERS IN PUBLIC HEALTH

ESI学科分类：SOCIAL SCIENCES, GENERAL

WOS号：WOS:001022683700001

JCR分区：Q2

影响因子：3

年份：2023

卷号：11

期号：　

开始页：　

结束页：　

文献类型：Article

关键词：COVID-19; close contact; epidemic outbreak; epidemiology investigation; spacetime companion

摘要："IntroductionCoronavirus disease 2019 has become a major global public health concern in December 2019. However, finding and excluding close contacts of COVID-19 infectors is a critical but difficult issue. This study aimed to introduce a new method of epidemiological investigation named space-time companions, which was adopted in Chengdu, China, in November 2021. MethodsAn observational investigation was conducted during a small outbreak of COVID-19 in Chengdu, China in November 2021. A new method of epidemiological investigation called space-time companion was adopted in this outbreak, which was defined as the one who stayed in the same spatiotemporal grid (range: 800 m * 800 m) with the confirmed COVID-19 infector for more than 10 min in the last 14 days. A flow chart was used to describe the screening process of space-time companions in detail and illustrate the space-time companion epidemic management method. ResultsThe COVID-19 epidemic outbreak in Chengdu was effectively controlled for approximately one incubation period (14 days). After four rounds of space-time companions screening, more than 450,000 space-time companions were screened, including 27 COVID-19 infectors. Moreover, in the subsequent rounds of nucleic acid testing for all people in the city, no infected person were found proving the end of this epidemic outbreak. ConclusionThe space-time companion provides a new idea for screening close contacts of the COVID-19 infector and other similar infectious diseases, which can serve as a supplement to traditional epidemiological history surveys to verify and avoid missing close contacts."

基金机构："Sichuan Provincial Department of Science and Technology [2023YFS0219, 2023YFS0228]; Chengdu Science and Technology Bureau [22ZDYF1597, 2021-YF09-00048-SN]"

基金资助正文："Financial support for this work was provided by the Sichuan Provincial Department of Science and Technology (2023YFS0219 and 2023YFS0228), and Chengdu Science and Technology Bureau (22ZDYF1597 and 2021-YF09-00048-SN). The funding agencies did not have any role in the design of the study, collection, analysis, and interpretation of data, or in writing the manuscript."