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

Niall Mc Goldrick; Emma O’Keefe

doi:10.1101/2022.03.11.22272263

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

Niall Mc Goldrick
, Emma O’Keefe

Dentistry

Research output: Working paper/Preprint › Preprint

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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.

Original language	English
Place of Publication	Cold Spring Harbor
Publisher	medRxiv
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.03.11.22272263
Publication status	Published - 13 Mar 2022

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 3 Good Health and Well-being

Keywords

dentistry and oral medicine

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10.1101/2022.03.11.22272263Licence: CC BY-NC-ND

PreprintSubmitted manuscript, 821 KBLicence: CC BY-NC-ND

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title = "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",

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.",

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N2 - 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.

AB - 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.

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