SARS-CoV2 hospital surveillance and control system with contact tracing for patients and health care workers at a large reference hospital in Spain during the first wave: An observational descriptive study

Health Sci Rep. 2022 Feb 26;5(2):e513. doi: 10.1002/hsr2.513. eCollection 2022 Mar.

Abstract

Background and aims: During the first peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Preventive Medicine Department and the Occupational Health Department at Hospital Clinic de Barcelona (HCB), a large Spanish referral hospital, developed an innovative comprehensive SARS-CoV2 Surveillance and Control System (CoSy-19) in order to preserve patients' and health care workers' (HCWs) safety. We aim to describe the CoSy-19 and to assess the impact in the number of contacts that new cases generated along this time.

Methods: Observational descriptive study of the findings of the activity of contact tracing of all cases received at the HCB during the first peak of COVID-19 in Spain (February 25th-May 3rd, 2020).

Results: A team of 204 professionals and volunteers performed 384 in-hospital contact-tracing studies which generated contacts, detecting 298 transmission chains which suggested preventive measures, generated around 22 000 follow-ups and more than 30 000 days of work leave. The number of contacts that new cases generated decreased during the study period.

Conclusion: Coordination between Preventive Medicine and Occupational Health departments and agile information systems were necessary to preserve non-COVID activity and workers safety.

Keywords: COVID‐19; Go.Data Software; SARS‐CoV2; contact tracing; healthcare associated infection; occupational health; patient safety.