COVID-IHU #12
Version 1 du 13 Mai 2020
Screening of SARS-CoV-2 among homeless people, asylum-seekers and other people living in precarious conditions in Marseille, France, March–April 2020.
Tran Duc Anh Ly, Van Thuan Hoang, Ndiaw Goumballa, Meriem Louni, Naomie Canard, Thi Loi Dao, Hacene Medkour, Audrey Borg, Kevin Bardy, Véra EstevesVieira, Véronique Filosa, Bernard Davoust, Oleg Mediannikov, Pierre-Edouard Fournier, Didier Raoult, Philippe Gautret
Abstract :
Surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 infection among sheltered homeless and other vulnerable people might provide the information needed to prevent its spread within accommodation centres. In March-April, we enrolled 411 homeless individuals, 77 asylum-seekers, 58 people living in precarious conditions, and 152 employees working in these accommodation centres and collected nasal samples. SARS-CoV-2 carriage was assessed by quantitative PCR. Overall, 49 (7.0%) people were positive for SARS-CoV-2, including 37 homeless individuals (of 411, 9.0%), 12 employees (of 152, 7.9%). SARS-CoV-2 positivity correlated with symptoms, although 51% of positive patients did not report respiratory symptoms or fever. Among homeless people, being young (18-34 years) (OR: 3.83 [1.47-10.0], p=0.006) and being housed in one specific shelter (OR: 9.13 [4.09-20.37], p<0.0001) were independent factors associated with the SARS-CoV-2 positivity rates (11.4% and 20.6%, respectively). The survey reveals the role of collective housing in relation to viral transmission within centres.
