SARS-CoV-2 Infection in San Patrignano, the Largest European Drug Rehabilitation Community

Isabella Sala, Carlotta Micaela Jarach, Vincenzo Bagnardi, Maria Sofia Cattaruzza, Michela Morri, Paolo Ottogalli, Vincenzo Zagà, Silvano Gallus () and Antonio Boschini
Additional contact information
Isabella Sala: Department of Statistics and Quantitative Methods, University of Milan-Bicocca, 20126 Milan, Italy
Carlotta Micaela Jarach: Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri IRCCS, 20156 Milan, Italy
Vincenzo Bagnardi: Department of Statistics and Quantitative Methods, University of Milan-Bicocca, 20126 Milan, Italy
Maria Sofia Cattaruzza: Department of Public Health and Infectious Diseases, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy
Michela Morri: Hygiene and Public Health Unit, AUSL della Romagna, 47924 Rimini, Italy
Paolo Ottogalli: San Patrignano Medical Center, 47853 Coriano, Italy
Vincenzo Zagà: Società Italiana di Tabaccologia (SITAB), 00136 Rome, Italy
Silvano Gallus: Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri IRCCS, 20156 Milan, Italy
Antonio Boschini: San Patrignano Medical Center, 47853 Coriano, Italy

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 3, 1-9

Abstract: Background: Studies on SARS-CoV-2 conducted in confined settings for prolonged times allow researchers to assess how the coronavirus spreads. San Patrignano (SP), Italy, is the largest European drug rehabilitation facility. Methods: Between 15 October and 31 December 2020, all SP residents were tested for SARS-CoV-2. We analyzed the relationships between individual characteristics and being SARS-CoV-2-positive. Three selected predictive models were used to calculate the number of expected hospitalizations. For each model, we summed the estimated individual risks to obtain the expected number of hospitalizations in our sample, and we tested whether the observed and expected numbers differed. Results: Of 807 residents, 529 (65.6%) were SARS-CoV-2-positive. Of these 323 (61.1%) were symptomatic. A strong relationship was found between being positive and living connections ( p -value < 0.001). No statistically significant relationship was found with age, sex, smoking history, or comorbidities. Although 9 to 17 hospitalizations were expected, no hospitalizations were observed ( p -value < 0.001). No one died of COVID-19. Conclusions: The peculiar characteristics of SP residents or the SP environment might at least partially explain the null hospitalization rates. Despite the extreme uniqueness of our population and despite the protected environment and all precautions that were taken, the fact that the virus was able to circulate and infect a large portion of the population highlights the fundamental role of social interactions in the spread of the disease.

Keywords: SARS-CoV-2; COVID-19; hospitalization; Italy; mortality (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/3/2136/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/3/2136/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:3:p:2136-:d:1045855

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().