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- Title
Multijurisdictional outbreak of COVID-19 associated with a wake/funeral event in a northern Saskatchewan First Nations community.
- Authors
Ndubuka, Nnamdi; Gupta, Sabyasachi; Zayed, Rim; Quinn, Brian; Khaketla, Moliehi; Chan, Elaine; Franklin, Kristyn; McGill, Erin
- Abstract
Background: Sixty-eight laboratory-confirmed cases of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) (12 in Alberta [AB], 56 in Saskatchewan [SK]) were linked to a gathering at a hospital in Alberta on June 1–4, 2020, and a wake/funeral in a First Nations community in northern Saskatchewan on June 9–11, 2020. Objective: The objectives were to provide a comprehensive description of the epidemiology of the outbreak and describe the chains of transmission to inform the hypothesis that there were multiple introductions of COVID-19 at the wake/funeral. Methods: Case investigation and contact tracing was conducted by local public health in AB and SK. The Public Health Agency of Canada conducted a centralized case analysis. An epidemic curve and a Gantt chart for period of communicability were created to support or refute whether there had been multiple introductions of COVID-19 at the wake/funeral. Results: Illness onset dates ranged from May 31 to July 1, 2020. Ages ranged from 2 to 80 years (median age=43 years). Five cases were hospitalized; there were no deaths. The available case exposure information supports the hypothesis that there had been multiple introductions of COVID-19 at the wake/funeral. Public health authorities in AB and SK declared the outbreak over on July 20, 2020; based on two incubation periods (i.e. 28 days) following the illness onset of the last primary case. Conclusion: During multijurisdictional outbreaks, data sharing, coordination across health authorities and centralized analysis is essential to understanding the events that lead to the outbreak and possible hypotheses around chains of transmission.
- Subjects
SASKATCHEWAN; ALBERTA; COVID-19 pandemic; COVID-19; INCUBATION period (Communicable diseases); CONTACT tracing; FUNERALS
- Publication
Canada Communicable Disease Report, 2022, Vol 48, Issue 4, p140
- ISSN
1188-4169
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.14745/ccdr.v48i04a04