Surveillance of clustered cases of COVID-19 in occitania: completeness, results of the surveillance over 6 months and perspectives

Introduction - The objective of this article is to evaluate the completeness of data collection of the surveillance system of COVID-19 clusters set up in May 2020 by Sante publique France, and to describe surveillance data. Methods - The study focuses on clusters recorded between May 11 and October 28, 2020 in the MONIC application in Occitania (France). The completion rate of the data collection was studied by month of registration of the clusters, by type of community and by level of criticality. Cluster characteristics were described when completeness was sufficient. Results - The total number of clusters was 701, with a peak of 363 in October. The completeness of the data decreased from the month of August, in particular for the variables "size of the exposed population", "death" and "hospitalization", and for the variables used for the evaluation of the criticality and from September for those allowing evaluate the status. The clusters in medical-social establishments and services were the most common, followed by clusters in school, university and professional settings. Conclusion - The surveillance system made it possible to characterize the COVID-19 clusters with certain limitations due to the quality of the data collection. In the future, it would be interesting to secure the collection of the variables essential for the evaluation of criticality, to lighten the system in times of high viral circulation and to characterize the circumstances of contamination.