OMAHA, Nebraska (WOWT) – During the Wednesday morning meeting, the Douglas County Health Board heard details about a local nursery school outbreak, including a chronology of events and the findings of an investigation.
According to Justin Frederick in the Douglas County Department of Health on March 9, there were 10 confirmed cases identified in daycare through routine surveillance. On March 17, there were 44 confirmed cases and the health department requested the voluntary closure of the center.
“We saw a rapid spread in the center and the identification of cases,” Frederick said.
The nursery had closed on March 5 for nine days and reopened on March 15.
On March 18, the DCHD told staff and attendees to quarantine for 10 days to stop the ongoing transmission within the center. The next day, the health department had identified 59 confirmed and 7 probable cases.
On 22 March, all specimens sent by the health department for genetic sequencing were identified as the UK variant, B.1.1.7. Families were advised to adhere to public health mitigation strategies and not to send their children to other daycares.
At that time, the nursery in question chose not to reopen.
Through epidemiological research and genomic sequencing data, the health department found that nearly 50% of the nursery was affected. The data show a total of 134 cases: 106 were confirmed cases and 28 were probable cases.
- 83 were primary cases, i.e., a daycare assistant or staff member received a positive test result and / or onset of symptoms on or after February 22nd. According to the data, 26 of these cases were identified to staff and 57 were identified to children, and 92% of them were symptomatic.
- 49 were secondary cases, i.e., a household member of a primary case received a positive test result and / or onset of symptoms on or after February 22nd. One such case resulted in hospitalization.
- 2 were tertiary cases, i.e., a wedding attendant related to the child care outbreak using genetic sequencing.
- The largest outbreak occurred among children aged 0–5 years, but transmission occurred from children to adults, as well as the spread of the community with the spread of overflow at a wedding.
- Using genetic sequencing tests, 27 cases were identified as the UK variant. Twenty of the cases were completely sequenced and seven partially sequenced.
“Because we see that variant B.1.1.7 is predominant throughout the community, this shows that a high number of these attendees (those young children) have symptoms, so it shows that it is consistent with being more likely to be infected and showing symptoms, ”Frederick said.
Frederick said it was determined that there was a lack of early communication from the daycare center and that there was limited data on the level of transmission of variants to the community. Public health mitigation could have been better, he said, but noted that it is difficult to mask with this age group.
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Digital director Gina Dvorak contributed to this report.
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