ArticleEMBO molecular medicine2020
SARS-CoV-2 outbreak investigation in a German meat processing plant.
Article in EMBO molecular medicine, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 97 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
97 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Local genomic epidemiology investigations of SARS-CoV-2 during the early pandemic response: A global systematic review.Epidemiology and infection · 2026Pooled it
- Meta-Analysis of COVID-19 Cluster Events Suggestive of Long-Distance Airborne Transmission/Inhalation.MicrobiologyOpen · 2026Pooled it
- Workplace interventions to reduce the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection outside of healthcare settings.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2024Pooled it
- Non-pharmaceutical interventions for COVID-19: a systematic review on environmental control measures.Philosophical transactions. Series A, Mathematical, physical, and engineering sciences · 2023Pooled it
- Long distance airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2: rapid systematic review.BMJ (Clinical research ed.) · 2022Pooled it
- Workplace interventions to reduce the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection outside of healthcare settings.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2022Pooled it
- Large-scale SARS-CoV-2 sequencing indicates prior community circulation of the viral strain associated with Germany's largest meat processing plant.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- An agent-based model of COVID- 19 in the food industry for assessing public health and economic impacts of infection control strategies.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Use of integrated genomic surveillance by local public health authorities: Recommendations based on a mixed-methods study of current adoption, applications and success factors, Germany, 2023.Euro surveillance : bulletin Europeen sur les maladies transmissibles = European communicable disease bulletin · 2025Article
- Immigrant workers in the meat industry during COVID-19: comparing governmental protection in Germany, the Netherlands, and the USA.Globalization and health · 2025Article
- COVID-19 transmission between the community and meat processing plants in Ireland: A retrospective modelling study.Heliyon · 2024Article
- Mitigating COVID-19 in meat processing plants: what have we learned from cluster investigations?Frontiers in public health · 2024Article
- Association between in situ ventilation and human-generated aerosol exposure in meatpacking plants during the COVID-19 pandemic.PloS one · 2024Article
- A COVID-19 Outbreak in a Large Meat-Processing Plant in England: Transmission Risk Factors and Controls.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Article
- Combined Infection Control Interventions Protect Essential Food Workers from Occupational Exposures to SARS-CoV-2 in the Agricultural Environment.Applied and environmental microbiology · 2023Article
- [Occupational medical aspects of COVID-19 pandemic containment: experiences from a large chemical company].Deutsche medizinische Wochenschrift (1946) · 2023Article
- Risk factors for COVID-19 outbreaks in livestock slaughtering and processing facilities in Republic of Korea.Osong public health and research perspectives · 2023Article
- A Comprehensive Sampling Study on SARS-CoV-2 Contamination of Air and Surfaces in a Large Meat Processing Plant Experiencing COVID-19 Clusters in June 2020.Journal of occupational and environmental medicine · 2023Article
- COVID-19 outbreak trends in Canada, 2021.Canada communicable disease report = Releve des maladies transmissibles au Canada · 2023Article
- Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in the workplace: Key findings from a rapid review of the literature.Aerosol science and technology : the journal of the American Association for Aerosol Research · 2023Article
37 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors.
Funding
Abstract
We describe a multifactorial investigation of a SARS-CoV-2 outbreak in a large meat processing complex in Germany. Infection event timing, spatial, climate and ventilation conditions in the processing plant, sharing of living quarters and transport, and viral genome sequences were analyzed. Our results suggest that a single index case transmitted SARS-CoV-2 to co-workers over distances of more than 8 m, within a confined work area in which air is constantly recirculated and cooled. Viral genome sequencing shows that all cases share a set of mutations representing a novel sub-branch in the SARS-CoV-2 C20 clade. We identified the same set of mutations in samples collected in the time period between this initial infection cluster and a subsequent outbreak within the same factory, with the largest number of confirmed SARS-CoV-2 cases in a German meat processing facility reported so far. Our results indicate climate conditions, fresh air exchange rates, and airflow as factors that can promote efficient spread of SARS-CoV-2 via long distances and provide insights into possible requirements for pandemic mitigation strategies in industrial workplace settings.
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