A report about the experience of COVID-19 active surveillance of homeless, undocumented people, and shelter staff in two cities of Lazio, Italy.
| Autor: | Morrone A; Scientific Direction, San Gallicano Dermatology Institute for Research and Care, IFO, Rome, Italy. annarita.buonomini@gmail.com., Di Simone E, Buonomini AR, Panattoni N, Pimpinelli F, Pontone M, Saraceni P, Ercoli L, Ralli M, Petrone F, Cristaudo A |
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| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Zdroj: | European review for medical and pharmacological sciences [Eur Rev Med Pharmacol Sci] 2023 Nov; Vol. 27 (21), pp. 10798-10805. |
| DOI: | 10.26355/eurrev_202311_34359 |
| Abstrakt: | Objective: This study aimed to investigate COVID-19 spread among people experiencing homelessness (PEH), undocumented migrants (UMs), and shelter staff of homeless service sites. Another aim has been to prevent an outbreak among these populations. A San Gallicano Institute's initiative to sustain the health system in helping hard-to-reach populations, very often with no community medical care coverage. Subjects and Methods: The San Gallicano Dermatological Institute performed active surveillance for COVID-19 on PEH and UMs living in Rome and Latina, Italy. The screening was performed with two swabs: real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and antigen rapid tests. Results: From June 2020 to January 2022, we performed 10,651 tests: 5,442 molecular swabs and 5,209 antigen rapid tests. A total of 3,503 individuals were screened. The prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection was 2.9% among the health and social workers and 5.7% among PEH and UMs. None of the people positive for COVID-19 had symptoms or signs of several illnesses. PEH and UMs who tested positive for COVID-19, asymptomatic or pauci-symptomatic, were transferred to a COVID Hotel or dedicated apartment for further clinical monitoring. Conclusions: People experiencing homelessness and undocumented migrants are often not registered in the National Health Service and, therefore, difficult to trace. These data could aid in estimating the spread of SARS-CoV-2 among people experiencing homelessness, undocumented migrants, and shelter staff in two Italian cities. |
| Databáze: | MEDLINE |
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