COVID-19 Infection at Samusocial in Paris: Descriptive and Serological Survey

After emergence of a new coronavirus (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2, SARS-CoV2) responsible for a cluster of respiratory infection at Wuhan, China, on January, 7th 2020, first cases were diagnosed in France in January 24th 2020. Health care components of Samusocial de Paris (Lits Haltes Soins Santé (LHSS)) were created in 2006. They provide medical care for homeless people and people in social distress not needing an hospitalization. Sometimes there are 3 persons in a bedroom. In december 2018, a special shelter for isolated women or women in precarious situations opened. Because of the living conditions in these centers and the difficulty for these populations to respect social distancing and hygiene recommendations. A first case of COVID-19 was identified on March 8th 2020 in one of these healthcare centers. Other cases were detected in the same center, then in another center on March 16th, then in the dormitory of the women shelter on March 30th. A recent study showed an important prevalence of SARS-COV2 in residents of a homeless shelter in Boston (36%), most of them were asymptomatic. Seroprevalence studies are done in general population or in health care workers, but don't include vulnerable people. It seemed important to us to describe the epidemic in these centers and to study COVID-19 seroprevalence in these particular populations.