Care-home outbreaks of COVID-19 in Scotland March to May 2020: National linked data cohort analysis

BACKGROUND: understanding care-home outbreaks of COVID-19 is a key public health priority in the ongoing pandemic to help protect vulnerable residents. OBJECTIVE: to describe all outbreaks of COVID-19 infection in Scottish care-homes for older people between 01/03/2020 and 31/05/2020 with follow-up to 30/06/2020. DESIGN AND SETTING: National linked data cohort analysis of Scottish care-homes for older people. METHODS: data linkage was used to identify outbreaks of COVID-19 in care-homes. Care-home characteristics associated with the presence of an outbreak were examined using logistic regression. Size of outbreaks was modelled using negative binomial regression. RESULTS: 334 (41%) Scottish care-homes for older people experienced an outbreak, with heterogeneity in outbreak size (1–63 cases; median = 6) and duration (1–94 days, median = 31.5 days). Four distinct patterns of outbreak were identified: ‘typical’ (38% of outbreaks, mean 11.2 cases and 48 days duration), severe (11%, mean 29.7 cases and 60 days), contained (37%, mean 3.5 cases and 13 days) and late-onset (14%, mean 5.4 cases and 17 days). Risk of a COVID-19 outbreak increased with increasing care-home size (for ≥90 beds vs <20, adjusted OR = 55.4, 95% CI 15.0–251.7) and rising community prevalence (OR = 1.2 [1.0–1.4] per 100 cases/100,000 population increase). No routinely available care-home characteristic was associated with outbreak size. CONCLUSIONS: reducing community prevalence of COVID-19 infection is essential to protect those living in care-homes. More systematic national data collection to understand care-home residents and the homes in which they live is a priority in ensuring we can respond more effectively in future.