This investigation report describes a case of COVID-19 in a combined military and civilian office workspace and the contact investigation and mitigation efforts that followed. This office space included an embedded public health officer who was able to conduct the contact investigation and advise on the outbreak response. Over a 3-day period, the index case unintentionally exposed 150 coworkers to SARS-CoV-2 through participation in carpools, conferences, and small meetings. Of these exposures 37 were considered medium risk at the time and 113 were considered low risk. A total of 5 contacts reported COVID-like-symptoms at the time of the investigation and another 5 developed symptoms during the 14-day quarantine period and all were directed to self-isolate. None of the contacts required hospitalization and all the symptomatic contacts tested negative for SARS-CoV-2. With the advice and aid of the embedded public health officer, the office authorized telework, conducted thorough cleaning of spaces, distributed informative messaging, conducted virtual question-and-answer forums, and evaluated outbreak policies. This report demonstrates that the close integration of public health and office management can lead to rapid identification of those at risk of infection and implementation of mitigation and control efforts to stop the spread of disease.
Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Association of Military Surgeons of the United States 2020. This work is written by (a) US Government employee(s) and is in the public domain in the US.