Emerging Infectious Diseases (Sep 2020)

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Prevalence, Seroprevalence, and Exposure among Evacuees from Wuhan, China, 2020

  • Benjamin D. Hallowell,
  • Christina M. Carlson,
  • Jesica R. Jacobs,
  • Mary Pomeroy,
  • Jonathan Steinberg,
  • Mark W. Tenforde,
  • Emily McDonald,
  • Loretta Foster,
  • Leora R. Feldstein,
  • Melissa A. Rolfes,
  • Amber Haynes,
  • Glen R. Abedi,
  • George S. Odongo,
  • Kim Saruwatari,
  • Errin C. Rider,
  • Gina Douville,
  • Neenaben Bhakta,
  • Panagiotis Maniatis,
  • Stephen Lindstrom,
  • Natalie J. Thornburg,
  • Xiaoyan Lu,
  • Brett L. Whitaker,
  • Shifaq Kamili,
  • Senthilkumar K. Sakthivel,
  • Lijuan Wang,
  • Lakshmi Malapati,
  • Janna R. Murray,
  • Brian Lynch,
  • Martin Cetron,
  • Clive Brown,
  • Shahrokh Roohi,
  • Lisa Rotz,
  • Denise Borntrager,
  • Kenta Ishii,
  • Kathleen Moser,
  • Mohammad Rasheed,
  • Brandi Freeman,
  • Sandra Lester,
  • Kizzmekia S. Corbett,
  • Olubukola M. Abiona,
  • Geoffrey B. Hutchinson,
  • Barney S. Graham,
  • Nicki Pesik,
  • Barbara Mahon,
  • Christopher Braden,
  • Casey Barton Behravesh,
  • Rebekah Stewart,
  • Nancy Knight,
  • Aron J. Hall,
  • Marie E. Killerby

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3201/eid2609.201590
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 26, no. 9
pp. 1998 – 2004

Abstract

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To determine prevalence of, seroprevalence of, and potential exposure to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) among a cohort of evacuees returning to the United States from Wuhan, China, in January 2020, we conducted a cross-sectional study of quarantined evacuees from 1 repatriation flight. Overall, 193 of 195 evacuees completed exposure surveys and submitted upper respiratory or serum specimens or both at arrival in the United States. Nearly all evacuees had taken preventive measures to limit potential exposure while in Wuhan, and none had detectable SARS-CoV-2 in upper respiratory tract specimens, suggesting the absence of asymptomatic respiratory shedding among this group at the time of testing. Evidence of antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 was detected in 1 evacuee, who reported experiencing no symptoms or high-risk exposures in the previous 2 months. These findings demonstrated that this group of evacuees posed a low risk of introducing SARS-CoV-2 to the United States.

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