Risk of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Special Military Operations in Southern Thailand, 2021
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.59096/osir.v16i2.263708Keywords:
COVID-19, military camp, vaccine, ThailandAbstract
On 12 Oct 2021, the Department of Disease Control received notification of a coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cluster in a military camp in Southern Thailand. Together with local health authorities, we investigated the outbreak with the aim of describing case characteristics, identifying risk factors, and providing control measures. We conducted a descriptive study by reviewing laboratory results and medical records, as well as interviewing the cases and military staff. A retrospective cohort study was undertaken to determine the potential risk of COVID-19 by Poisson regression with robust standard errors. Of 188 military members, 37 were confirmed cases (attack rate 19.7%). The attack rates among males and females were 28.97% and 10.71%, respectively. Almost all cases (97.30%; 36/37) had mild symptoms and one was asymptomatic. Attending a special operation where soldiers were tasked to go on outreach in communities or in the forest (adjusted risk ratio (RR) 2.75 [95% CI 1.60–4.75]) and engaging in high-risk behaviors (adjusted RR 3.41 [95% CI 1.64–7.06]) were risk factors, while completing 2-dose vaccination schedule (adjusted RR 0.56 [95% CI 0.31–1.00]) had a protective effect. We recommend that strict symptom monitoring measures be implemented among special operation forces, efforts be made to promote personal hygiene, and we encourage all military staff to undergo full vaccination.
References
Cucinotta D, Vanelli M. WHO declares COVID-19 a pandemic. Acta Biomed. 2020 Mar 19;91(1):157–60. doi:10.23750/abm.v91i1.9397.
World Health Organization. COVID-19 weekly epidemiological update, edition 59. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2021 Sep 28 [cited 2021 Sep 30]. <https://www.who.int/publications/m/item/weekly-epidemiological-update-on-covid-19---28-september-2021>
Emergency Operations Center of Department of Disease Control Ministry of Public Health Thailand. Daily report of situation of COVID-19 in Thailand [Internet]. Bangkok: Center for COVID-19 situation administration; 2021 Aug 30 [cited 2021 Sep 30]. <https://media.thaigov.go.th/uploads/public_img/source/300864.pdf>
Situation Awareness Team, Ministry of Public Health (TH). Covid-19 situation dashboard [Internet]. Nonthaburi: Department of Disease Control (TH); 2021 [cited 2021 Oct 05]. <https://ddc.moph.go.th/covid19-dashboard/?dashboard=main>
European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. COVID-19 clusters and outbreaks in occupational settings in the EU/EEA and the UK [Internet]. Stockholm: ECDC; 2020 Aug 11. 17 p. <https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/publications-data/covid-19-clusters-and-outbreaks-occupational-settings-eueea-and-uk>
Kim C, Kim YM, Heo N, Park E, Choi S, Jang S, et al. COVID-19 outbreak in a military unit in Korea. Epidemiol Health. 2021 Sep 8;43:e2021065. doi:10.4178/epih.e2021065.
Department of Health, Ministry of Public Health (TH); Indoor Air Quality Association. Ventilation instructions to prevent the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Nonthaburi: Department of Health (TH); 2021 Jun 1. 5 p. Thai.
Groves LM, Usagawa L, Elm J, Low E, Manuzak A, Quint J, et al. Community transmission of SARS-CoV-2 at three fitness facilities — Hawaii, June–July 2020. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2021 Mar 5;70(9):316–20. doi:10.15585/mmwr.mm7009e1.
SAGE Working Group on COVID-19 vaccines, Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization. Evidence Assessment: Sinovac/CoronaVac COVID-19 vaccine [Internet]. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2021 [cited 2021 Dec 13]. 32 p. <https://cdn.who.int/media/docs/default-source/immunization/sage/2021/april/5_sage29apr2021_critical-evidence_sinovac.pdf?sfvrsn=2488098d_5>
Lio CF, Cheong HH, Lei CI, Lo IL, Yao L, Lam C, et al. Effectiveness of personal protective health behaviour against COVID-19. BMC Public Health. 2021 Apr 29;21(1):827. doi:10.1186/s12889-021-10680-5.
WHO South-East Asia Regional. Handwashing an effective tool to prevent COVID-19, other diseases [Internet]. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2020 Oct 15 [cited 2021 Dec 13]. <https://www.who.int/southeastasia/news/detail/15-10-2020-handwashing-an-effective-tool-to-prevent-covid-19-other-diseases>
Kai D, Goldstein GP, Morgunov A, Nangalia V, Rotkirch A. Universal masking is urgent in the COVID-19 pandemic: SEIR and agent based models, empirical validation, policy recommendations. arXiv:2004.13553 [Preprint]. 2020 Apr 22 [cited 2021 Dec 13]:[19 p.]. <https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2004.13553>
Doung-Ngern P, Suphanchaimat R, Panjangampatthana A, Janekrongtham C, Ruampoom D, Daochaeng N, et al. Case-control study of use of personal protective measures and risk for SARS-CoV 2 infection, Thailand. Emerg Infect Dis. 2020 Nov;26(11):2607–16. doi:10.3201/eid2611.203003.
Celentano DD, Szklo M. Gordis epidemiology. 6th ed. Elsevier, editor. Philladephia (PA): Elsevier; 2019. 185–7 p.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2023 Outbreak, Surveillance, Investigation & Response (OSIR) Journal
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
