SARS-CoV-2 Infections and Serologic Responses Among Military Personnel Deployed on the USNS COMFORT to New York City During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Tahaniyat Lalani; Tida K Lee; Eric D Laing; Andrew Ritter; Elizabeth Cooper; Melissa Lee; Matthew Baker; Tyler Baldino; Terrance Mcadoo; Shreshta Phogat; Emily Samuels; Huy Nguyen; Christopher C Broder; Nusrat Epsi; Stephanie A Richard; Tyler E Warkentien; Eugene V Millar; Timothy Burgess; Karl C Kronmann

doi:10.1093/ofid/ofaa654

SARS-CoV-2 Infections and Serologic Responses Among Military Personnel Deployed on the USNS COMFORT to New York City During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Open Forum Infect Dis. 2021 Jan 23;8(2):ofaa654. doi: 10.1093/ofid/ofaa654. eCollection 2021 Feb.

Authors

Tahaniyat Lalani^{1

2

3}, Tida K Lee^{3

4}, Eric D Laing⁵, Andrew Ritter³, Elizabeth Cooper³, Melissa Lee³, Matthew Baker³, Tyler Baldino³, Terrance Mcadoo³, Shreshta Phogat⁵, Emily Samuels⁵, Huy Nguyen³, Christopher C Broder⁵, Nusrat Epsi^{1

2}, Stephanie A Richard^{1

2}, Tyler E Warkentien³, Eugene V Millar^{1

2}, Timothy Burgess¹, Karl C Kronmann^{3

4}

Affiliations

¹ Infectious Disease Clinical Research Program, Uniformed Services University, Bethesda, Maryland, USA.
² Henry M Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine, Inc., Bethesda, Maryland, USA.
³ Naval Medical Center Portsmouth, Portsmouth, Virginia, USA.
⁴ Department of Medicine, Uniformed Services University, Bethesda, Maryland, USA.
⁵ Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Uniformed Services University, Bethesda, Maryland, USA.

Abstract

Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) presents a unique challenge to United States Navy hospital ships. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection among US Navy personnel deployed on the USNS COMFORT to augment the inpatient health care capacity in New York City.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted on USNS COMFORT crewmembers returning to Norfolk, Virginia, following deployment. Participants completed an electronic questionnaire and provided a serum sample at Day 14 post-deployment. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) results from testing of symptomatic crewmembers during deployment and Day 0 and Day 14 post-deployment screening swabs conducted on all crewmembers, per military order, were abstracted. SARS-CoV-2 infection was defined as a positive SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein immunoglobulin G antibody or PCR result.

Results: Of the ship's total complement of 1200 crewmembers, 450 were enrolled: 432 (96.0%) completed the questionnaire and provided a serum sample. The median age of participants (interquartile range) was 30 (24-39) years, 50.8% were female, 58.6% were White, and 14.0% were Black; 80.1% had a clinical role during deployment. The cumulative prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection was 3.01% (13/432; 95% CI, 1.61%-5.09%). Twelve of 13 infections occurred in health care providers, and 8 of 13 were asymptomatic. The antibody profile of infected crewmembers varied by suspected timing of infection.

Conclusions: We observed a low prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection among USNS COMFORT crewmembers despite the inherent risk of a shipboard deployment to an area with high rates of community transmission. Our findings suggest that early infection control measures mitigated the spread of SARS-CoV-2 among crewmembers.

Keywords: SARS-CoV-2; epidemiology; health care workers; shipboard.

Grants and funding

Y01 AI005072/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/United States