Large Gathering Attendance is Associated with Increased Odds of Contracting COVID-19: A Survey Based Study. J Prev (2022) 2022 Apr;43(2):157-166
Date
04/22/2022Pubmed ID
35445374Pubmed Central ID
PMC8735732DOI
10.1007/s10935-021-00665-wScopus ID
2-s2.0-85140609606 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site) 1 CitationAbstract
We used a telephone survey to determine risk factors associated with a positive polymerase chain reaction test of a nasopharyngeal swab for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-Cov-2) at a community hospital in Central New Jersey during the early stages of the pandemic. We compared survey responses of 176 patients in March 2020. Respondents were asked about their living situation, work environment, use of public transportation and attendance at one or more large gatherings (more than 10 people) in the 3 weeks prior to undergoing COVID testing. We found that those who attended a large gathering in the 3 weeks prior to their COVID test had a 2.50 odds ratio (95% CI 1.19, 5.22) of testing positive after controlling for age, sex, race/ethnicity, occupation, living situation and recent visit to a nursing home. The total number of gatherings attended or the number of people in attendance was not associated with a positive test. An association was also seen for specific job types such as factory workers, construction workers, and facilities managers. Attendance at a gathering of more than ten people was associated with testing positive for COVID-19.
Author List
Schroeder ME, Manderski MT, Amro C, Swaminathan S, Parekh A, Yoshitake S, Yang J, Romeo P, Reyes D, Choron R, Rodricks MAuthor
Mary Elizabeth Schroeder MD Associate Professor in the Surgery department at Medical College of WisconsinMESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold
HumansPandemics
Surveys and Questionnaires
