Background: There were some family infections of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Taiwan to date. This study aimed to investigate the clinical characteristics and outcomes of different types of family infections with COVID-19 and to share Taiwan's experience.
Material and methods: We collected cases of family infections of COVID-19 from 21 January 2020 to 16 March 2020. The data were collected from a series of press conference contents by Taiwan's Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC).
Results: During this period, there were six family infections in Taiwan, including two couple infections, one imported family cluster infection, and three domestic family cluster infections. Compared to the former two, the starters (cases 19, 24, and 27) of domestic family cluster infections showed longer symptom-onset to diagnosis (p = 0.02); longer symptom-onset to quarantine or isolation (p = 0.01); higher first-generation reproduction number (p = 0.03); and more critical presentation (endotracheal tube insertion and intensive care unit (ICU) care) (p < 0.01). In addition, compared to the former two, the starters of the latter were older, had no history of travel, and had more underlying diseases and more mortality. There are more contacts of domestic family cluster infections, making epidemiological investigations more difficult and expensive. However, the second-generation reproduction number of the above three families was zero.
Conclusion: Domestic family cluster infections of COVID-19 have different characteristics and outcomes from couple infection and imported family cluster infections in this study.
Keywords: coronavirus disease 2019; couple infections; domestic family infections; imported family infections.