Outbreak description
In Fukuoka City, Japan, the first case of COVID-19 was reported in late February, 2020, and the number of SARS-CoV-2-infected cases gradually increased in March; the first wave of the COVID-19 epidemic peaked in April. The facility reported herein is a 100-bed nursing facility divided into three units with long-term residents; it included 99 residents and 53 staff (full-time healthcare personnel) as of April 1 (Table 1). Most residents had developed advanced dementia (Table 1). All visitors were restricted to the facility from the beginning of March (Fig. 1). On March 31, a nursing staff who had worked in Unit 1 developed a fever and underwent PCR testing for SARS-CoV-2 in another hospital, resulting in the first identification of COVID-19 in the facility on April 1. Following this result, the administrative leader at the facility decided to conduct PCR testing for all residents in Unit 1 and comprehensive testing for all staff, under the permission of the Heath and Welfare Center in Fukuoka City; comprehensive and separate PCR tests were repeated during the outbreak in the facility. After the identification of PCR-positive residents and staff, infection control measures in each unit were enhanced (Fig. 1). The PCR-positive residents were accommodated and isolated in a room in Unit 4 that was not usually used immediately after identification. Subsequently, residents with severe conditions were transferred to hospitals, and other residents were treated in the facility. The PCR-positive staff were hospitalized or remained at home immediately after determining the result. The authors, belonging to Kyushu University, were requested by the administrative leader to perform serological testing in the facility, resulting in the initiation of antibody testing on April 23. The final PCR-positive resident in the facility was identified on April 28. Negative conversion in all PCR-positive residents was achieved on June 1. Subsequently, a second facility-wide antibody testing was implemented to confirm the termination of the COVID-19 outbreak in the facility. The facility was reopened to new residents and visitors on June 15.
PCR testing
A total of 283 real-time PCR tests were performed between April 1 and 28, finally reaching 322 tests including additional 39 tests performed by June 15. From March 31 to April 28, 37 of the 152 individuals (24.3%) in the facility (25/99 residents, 25.3%; 12/53 staff, 22.6%) were identified as PCR-positive for SARS-CoV-2 (Fig. 2). Seven residents died after identification, resulting in a mortality of 7.1% (7/99). PCR positivity detection was most pronounced in Unit 1 (20/30 residents, 66.7%; 9/14 staff, 64.3%), followed by Unit 3 (5/34 residents, 14.7%; 2/14 staff, 14.3%). Only one staff member was identified as PCR-positive in Unit 2.
Table 2 shows the detection rate of real-time PCR positivity for SARS-CoV-2 in facility/unit-wide and other separate tests. PCR positivity in the comprehensive testing was highly prevalent in Unit 1 (16/70 residents and staff, 22.9%), compared with that in the other units. Additionally, a detection rate of 44.4% (12/27 residents and staff) in Unit 1 was obtained when residents and staff with fever were separately tested. The frequency of febrile episodes during the outbreak in Unit 1 was not different between the PCR-positive and -negative residents (Table S1).
The mode of symptom onset was examined in 17 residents and staff who were identified using facility/unit-wide PCR testing (Table S2). Among them, 10 (58.8%) did not develop any symptoms at the time of testing (presymptomatic, n=6; asymptomatic, n=4). The real-time PCR Ct values for these 10 individuals with no symptoms at the time of testing were similar to those for the symptomatic individuals (Fig. S1)
Serological testing
A total of 257 rapid antibody kit tests were performed by June 15. A part of serum samples used for these tests was applied to antibody quantification assay (Table S3). Among the 37 PCR-positive residents and staff, serum samples from the 33 individuals were obtained. Of these 33 individuals, 31 were positive for IgG antibodies in both kit and quantification tests (Fig. S2a). One resident who was negative for IgG in the kit testing showed IgG positivity in the quantification assay (Fig. S2a). One staff showed IgG negativity between the kit and quantification tests, resulting in a false-positive result in the PCR testing (Fig. S2a).
No staff had positive IgG testing results in both the first and second facility-wide tests (Table 3). In the first testing, three residents showed IgG positivity. One resident in Unit 2 had a negative IgG result in the quantification assay, resulting in a false-positive result in the kit testing (resident no. 26 in Table S3). Of the two remaining residents in Unit 1, one showed both positive PCR and IgG results, as of April 23 (resident no. 20 in Table S3). Another resident had negative PCR and positive IgG results, as of April 23. (resident no. 27 in Fig. 3a). In the second testing, one resident in Unit 2 was newly identified as IgG-positive (Table 3). This resident became seropositive for IgG after an initial negative status, although PCR positivity had never been detected by June 15 (resident no. 28 in Fig. 3b). Thus, serological testing most likely identified two residents infected with SARS-CoV-2 who could not be detected in the series of PCR testing. Finally, as of June 15, serological testing showed that no individuals in the facility were newly identified as infected since April 29.