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COVID-19 Testing Unit Munich: Impact of Public Health and Safety Measures on Patient Characteristics and Test Results, January to September 2020

To assess the course of the COVID-19 pandemic and the impact of non-pharmaceutical interventions, the number of reported positive test results is frequently used as an estimate of the true number of population-wide infections. We conducted a retrospective observational analysis of patient data of th...

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Autores principales: Hohl, Hannah Tuulikki, Heumann, Christian, Rothe, Camilla, Hoelscher, Michael, Janke, Christian, Froeschl, Guenter
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8980425/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35392481
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2022.856189
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author Hohl, Hannah Tuulikki
Heumann, Christian
Rothe, Camilla
Hoelscher, Michael
Janke, Christian
Froeschl, Guenter
author_facet Hohl, Hannah Tuulikki
Heumann, Christian
Rothe, Camilla
Hoelscher, Michael
Janke, Christian
Froeschl, Guenter
author_sort Hohl, Hannah Tuulikki
collection PubMed
description To assess the course of the COVID-19 pandemic and the impact of non-pharmaceutical interventions, the number of reported positive test results is frequently used as an estimate of the true number of population-wide infections. We conducted a retrospective observational analysis of patient data of the Corona Testing Unit (CTU) in Munich, Bavaria, Germany between January 27th, and September 30th, 2020. We analyzed the course of daily patient numbers over time by fitting a negative binomial model with multiple breakpoints. Additionally, we investigated possible influencing factors on patient numbers and characteristics by literature review of policy papers and key informant interviews with individuals involved in the set-up of the CTU. The 3,963 patients included were mostly young (median age: 34, interquartile range: 27–48), female (66.2%), and working in the healthcare sector (77%). For these, 5,314 real-time RT-PCR tests were conducted with 157 (2.94%) positive results. The overall curve of daily tests and positive results fits the re-ported state-wide incidence in large parts but shows multiple breakpoints with considerable trend changes. These can be most fittingly attributed to testing capacities and -strategies and individual risk behavior, rather than public health measures. With the large impact on patient numbers and pre-test probabilities of various strategic and operational factors, we consider the derived re-ported incidence as a poor measurement to base policy decisions on. Testing units should be prepared to encounter these fluctuations with a quickly adaptable structure.
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spelling pubmed-89804252022-04-06 COVID-19 Testing Unit Munich: Impact of Public Health and Safety Measures on Patient Characteristics and Test Results, January to September 2020 Hohl, Hannah Tuulikki Heumann, Christian Rothe, Camilla Hoelscher, Michael Janke, Christian Froeschl, Guenter Front Public Health Public Health To assess the course of the COVID-19 pandemic and the impact of non-pharmaceutical interventions, the number of reported positive test results is frequently used as an estimate of the true number of population-wide infections. We conducted a retrospective observational analysis of patient data of the Corona Testing Unit (CTU) in Munich, Bavaria, Germany between January 27th, and September 30th, 2020. We analyzed the course of daily patient numbers over time by fitting a negative binomial model with multiple breakpoints. Additionally, we investigated possible influencing factors on patient numbers and characteristics by literature review of policy papers and key informant interviews with individuals involved in the set-up of the CTU. The 3,963 patients included were mostly young (median age: 34, interquartile range: 27–48), female (66.2%), and working in the healthcare sector (77%). For these, 5,314 real-time RT-PCR tests were conducted with 157 (2.94%) positive results. The overall curve of daily tests and positive results fits the re-ported state-wide incidence in large parts but shows multiple breakpoints with considerable trend changes. These can be most fittingly attributed to testing capacities and -strategies and individual risk behavior, rather than public health measures. With the large impact on patient numbers and pre-test probabilities of various strategic and operational factors, we consider the derived re-ported incidence as a poor measurement to base policy decisions on. Testing units should be prepared to encounter these fluctuations with a quickly adaptable structure. Frontiers Media S.A. 2022-03-22 /pmc/articles/PMC8980425/ /pubmed/35392481 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2022.856189 Text en Copyright © 2022 Hohl, Heumann, Rothe, Hoelscher, Janke and Froeschl. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Public Health
Hohl, Hannah Tuulikki
Heumann, Christian
Rothe, Camilla
Hoelscher, Michael
Janke, Christian
Froeschl, Guenter
COVID-19 Testing Unit Munich: Impact of Public Health and Safety Measures on Patient Characteristics and Test Results, January to September 2020
title COVID-19 Testing Unit Munich: Impact of Public Health and Safety Measures on Patient Characteristics and Test Results, January to September 2020
title_full COVID-19 Testing Unit Munich: Impact of Public Health and Safety Measures on Patient Characteristics and Test Results, January to September 2020
title_fullStr COVID-19 Testing Unit Munich: Impact of Public Health and Safety Measures on Patient Characteristics and Test Results, January to September 2020
title_full_unstemmed COVID-19 Testing Unit Munich: Impact of Public Health and Safety Measures on Patient Characteristics and Test Results, January to September 2020
title_short COVID-19 Testing Unit Munich: Impact of Public Health and Safety Measures on Patient Characteristics and Test Results, January to September 2020
title_sort covid-19 testing unit munich: impact of public health and safety measures on patient characteristics and test results, january to september 2020
topic Public Health
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8980425/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35392481
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2022.856189
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