Covid August 2020

August 2020

6 August (18,806,105)

• ECDC publishes "COVID-19 in children and the role of school settings in COVID-19 transmission", a technical report

10 August (19,866,418)

• ECDC publishes "Objectives for COVID-19 testing in school settings", a technical report . What are highlights?
  • Objectives for testing in school settings:
    • To ensure early identification of cases among students and staff in order to conduct contact tracing and initiate prevention and control measures, thereby reducing further transmission.
    • To identify infection in students and staff at high risk of developing severe disease due to underlying conditions.
    • To support investigations and studies concerning the role of children in the transmission of COVID-19.

• ECDC also publishes "Rapid Risk Assessment: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the EU/EEA and the UK – eleventh update: the resurgence of cases"
  • Member States implementing comprehensive testing are better able to rapidly detect an increase in cases and identify groups at high risk of disease. Alongside a tailored local testing strategy, the speed of contact tracing is important to reduce transmission, and efforts should be made to shorten the time needed for each step in the testing, notification, and contact tracing process.
  • As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, it is natural for people to become fatigued and reduce compliance with public health measures. Risk communication efforts should be tailored to changes in the local situation and continuous messaging is needed to remind the population that the SARS-CoV-2 virus will remain in circulation within the community and that they should take everyday measures to reduce potential exposure, such as practising cough and respiratory etiquette, physical distancing and hand hygiene, wearing face masks, reducing the number of contacts and staying home when ill.

11 August (20,086,067)

• ECDC publishes "COVID-19 clusters and outbreaks in occupational settings in the EU/EEA and the UK", a technical report. What's new?
  • Fifteen EU/EEA countries and the UK reported 1 376 clusters of COVID-19 in occupational settings which occurred between March and early July 2020.
  • The majority of occupational COVID-19 clusters reported were from the health sector, however, testing of healthcare workers has been prioritised in all EU/EEA countries and the UK. Large numbers of clusters were also reported from the food packaging and processing sectors, in factories and manufacturing, and in-office settings. Fewer clusters were reported from the mining sector, however, some of these clusters have been large.
  • Robust surveillance and contact tracing are essential, as are clear protocols on how to address outbreaks when they are detected.

19 August (22,155,933)

• ECDC publishes "Population-wide testing of SARS-CoV-2: country experiences and potential approaches in the EU/EEA and the UK", a technical report . What's the bottom line?
  • Different population-wide testing approaches have already been used in various countries, including household testing, individual testing and the testing of incoming travellers, irrespective of whether ornot they are displaying symptoms.
  • Factors that need to be considered prior to implementation of any population-wide testing strategy which is to include all individuals are the epidemiological situation, costs, logistics, technical feasibility,resource availability, contract tracing capabilities, barriers to testing, potential false positivity and timely notification.
  • Population-wide testing strategies can complement other public health measures and are more effective when paired with case isolation and contact tracing