Outbreak of COVID-19 at three nursing homes in Bergen

Abstract

Background: Nursing home residents are generally old and frail, and at high risk that COVID-19 will take a serious course. Outbreaks of COVID-19 have not previously been described in Norway, and it is important to identify mechanisms for spread of the infection and course of disease for nursing home residents with this pandemic disease.

Material and method: We included residents from three nursing homes with outbreaks of COVID-19 in a retrospective observational study, and we retrieved information on the number of staff for whom SARS-CoV-2 was confirmed or who were placed in quarantine. We present resident characteristics, course of disease and mortality associated with COVID-19 in the nursing homes, as well as providing a brief description of the outbreaks.

Results: Forty residents were included, 26 of whom were women. The average age was 86.2 years. Thirty-seven of the residents had atypical symptoms, nine of them were asymptomatic at the time of diagnosis, and 21 died during the coronavirus infection. Contact tracing indicated that the outbreaks may have originated from staff in the pre-symptomatic or early and mild phase of the disease. SARS-CoV-2 was detected in forty-two staff members, and a further 115 were placed in quarantine.

Interpretation: Many residents had atypical disease presentation, and the mortality from COVID-19 was high. Spread of infection may have originated from staff, also before they displayed obvious symptoms, and contributed to extensive spread of SARS-CoV-2 in the three nursing homes.