Surveillance of COVID-19 cases associated with dental settings using routine health data from the East of Scotland with a description of efforts to break chains of transmission from October 2020 to December 2021
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Abstract
Introduction
Dental settings have been considered high risk setting s for COVID-19. A Dental Public Health Team in South East Scotland have worked to risk assess the situation timeously to break chains of transmission.
Aim
To present routine data produced from a contact tracing service for COVID-19 cases in the dental setting with a focus on transmission.
Design
Observational retrospective analysis of a routine data set of COVID-19 cases associated with a dental setting reported via the national contact tracing system for two health board areas in the east of Scotland.
Methods
COVID-19 cases were confirmed by PCR testing. Descriptive statistics are used to summarise the data collected over a 13-month period (Oct 2020-Dec 2021). A narrative presents themes identified during contact tracing that led to transmission within a dental setting and includes a case study.
Results
A total of 811 incidents are included. No evidence of staff to patient transmission or vice versa was found in this study. Staff to staff transmission occurred in non-clinical areas contributing to 33% of total staff cases.
Conclusion
Transmission of COVID-19 in a dental setting in the context of this study appears to be confined to non-clinical areas. Future pandemic plans should include tools to aid with implementation of guidance in non-clinical areas.
In brief points
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Outbreaks of COVID-19 in a dental setting appear to be confined to the non-clinical areas of dental practices.
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We have found no evidence of staff to patient transmission or vice versa using our contact tracing methods.
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Future pandemic preparedness would benefit from including current quality improvement tools to aid with implementation of new standard operating procedures and other regularly changing guidance.
Article activity feed
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SciScore for 10.1101/2022.03.11.22272263: (What is this?)
Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.
Table 1: Rigor
Ethics Field Sample Permit: The study is observational in nature and is reported in line with the reporting of studies conducted using observational routinely collected data statement (RECROD) (7). Sex as a biological variable not detected. Randomization not detected. Blinding not detected. Power Analysis not detected. Table 2: Resources
Software and Algorithms Sentences Resources Descriptive statistics were used to present the findings and all data were managed in MS Excel. MS Excelsuggested: NoneResults from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).
Results from LimitationRecognizer: We detected the …SciScore for 10.1101/2022.03.11.22272263: (What is this?)
Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.
Table 1: Rigor
Ethics Field Sample Permit: The study is observational in nature and is reported in line with the reporting of studies conducted using observational routinely collected data statement (RECROD) (7). Sex as a biological variable not detected. Randomization not detected. Blinding not detected. Power Analysis not detected. Table 2: Resources
Software and Algorithms Sentences Resources Descriptive statistics were used to present the findings and all data were managed in MS Excel. MS Excelsuggested: NoneResults from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).
Results from LimitationRecognizer: We detected the following sentences addressing limitations in the study:Limitations include the fact that genome sequencing was not employed in contact tracing for any of these cases. Cases that did not engage with the national contact tracing system and those that did not report an interaction with a dental setting will not have been picked up. Contact tracing also relies on recall of individuals and for cases to be well enough to take part. Some cases experiencing the worst symptoms and morbidity associated with COVID-19 will not have been able to partake fully or at all in contact tracing reducing ability to break chains of transmission. Cluster and outbreak locations were not visited by DPH to assess the measures in place but instead relied upon what was reported by local management teams. The DPH team took the opportunity to constantly reflect using regular team huddles to debrief, share learning and ask questions. Reactive trouble shooting huddles took place via MS TEAMS daily. Use of a shared folder for documenting actions on cases and maintaining case notes provided ease of handover between staff working remotely. The DPH team were well place due to existing networks that straddle both public health and dentistry. The findings from this paper would likely be comparable with other areas of Scotland or the UK where similar contact tracing processes were in place.
Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.
Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.
Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.
Results from rtransparent:- Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
- Thank you for including a funding statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
- Thank you for including a protocol registration statement.
Results from scite Reference Check: We found no unreliable references.
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