EHRs of COVID-19-infected patients could be used to trace other potentially affected patients, according to a Feb. 26 study published in JAMA Network Open.
Researchers combed through the home addresses of patients who tested positive for COVID-19 at Mass General Brigham health system in Boston. They used EHRs to find other patients in their system with the same home address.
Researchers found 7,262 infected patients and looked at 17,917 possible links. Of those possible links, 10.1 percent went on to test positive for COVID-19. The method provides similar results to contact tracing, and researchers on the study said it may be more efficient in estimating possible infections.
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