Department of Public Health, Kyungpook National University Hospital, Daegu, Korea.
Department of Preventive Medicine, School of Medicine, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, Korea.
Epidemiol Health. 2021;43:e2021024. doi: 10.4178/epih.e2021024. Epub 2021 Apr 14.
A coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak triggered by religious activities occurred in Daegu, Korea in February 2020. This outbreak spread rapidly to the community through high-risk groups. This study describes the characteristics of COVID-19 cases based on S religious group membership and summarizes the Daegu municipal government's processes and responses to control the outbreak.
The epidemiological characteristics of confirmed cases were obtained through basic and in-depth epidemiological surveys. General characteristics, the proportion of asymptomatic cases, the case-fatality rate, and the time-to-event within each group were presented after stratifying confirmed cases according to S religious group membership.
Overall, 7,008 COVID-19 cases were confirmed in Daegu from February 18, 2020 to June 30, 2020, and 61.5% (n= 4,309) were S religious group members. Compared with non-members, members had a higher proportion of female (p< 0.001) and younger age (p< 0.001), as well as lower disease prevalence. At the time of the investigation, 38.4% of cases in members were asymptomatic versus 23.7% of cases in non-members (p< 0.001). The case-fatality rate of non-members aged ≥ 60 years was significantly higher than that of members (p< 0.001). Compared with non-members, members had longer intervals from symptom onset to diagnosis (p< 0.001) and from diagnosis to admission (p< 0.001), and a shorter interval from admission to discharge (p< 0.001).
The epidemiological features of S religious group members, including the proportion of asymptomatic cases, case-fatality rate, and time-to-event, differed from non-members. The Daegu authorities prevented further COVID-19 spread through immediate isolation and active screening tests of all S religious group members.
2020 年 2 月，韩国大邱市发生了一起由宗教活动引发的 2019 年冠状病毒病（COVID-19）疫情。该疫情通过高危人群迅速向社区传播。本研究描述了基于 S 宗教团体成员身份的 COVID-19 病例特征，并总结了大邱市政府控制疫情的过程和应对措施。
通过基本和深入的流行病学调查获得确诊病例的流行病学特征。根据 S 宗教团体成员身份对确诊病例进行分层后，呈现各组的一般特征、无症状病例比例、病死率和事件时间。
总体而言，2020 年 2 月 18 日至 6 月 30 日，大邱共确诊 COVID-19 病例 7008 例，其中 61.5%（n=4309）为 S 宗教团体成员。与非成员相比，成员中女性比例更高（p<0.001），年龄更小（p<0.001），疾病流行率更低。在调查时，成员中 38.4%的病例为无症状，而非成员中为 23.7%（p<0.001）。≥60 岁非成员的病死率明显高于成员（p<0.001）。与非成员相比，成员从症状出现到诊断的时间间隔（p<0.001）以及从诊断到住院的时间间隔（p<0.001）更长，而从住院到出院的时间间隔更短（p<0.001）。
S 宗教团体成员的流行病学特征，包括无症状病例比例、病死率和事件时间，与非成员不同。大邱当局通过对所有 S 宗教团体成员立即进行隔离和积极的筛查测试，防止了 COVID-19 的进一步传播。
