COVID-19 Outbreak Trends in Canada, 2021

Background: In January 2021, the Public Health Agency of Canada launched an outbreak surveillance system, the Canadian COVID-19 Outbreak Surveillance System (CCOSS), with the goal of monitoring incidence and severity of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreaks across various community settings and complementing case surveillance.

Methods: Seven provinces were included in this report; these provinces submitted weekly cumulative COVID-19 outbreak line lists to CCOSS in 2021. Data includes administrative variables (e.g. date outbreak declared, date outbreak declared over, outbreak identifier), 24 outbreak settings, and number of confirmed cases and outcomes (hospitalization, death). Descriptive analyses for COVID-19 outbreaks across Canada from January 3, 2021, to January 1, 2022, were performed examining trends over time, severity, and outbreak size.

Results: Incidence of outbreaks followed similar trends to case incidence. Outbreaks were most common in school and childcare settings (39%) and industrial/agricultural settings (21%). Outbreak size ranged from 2 to 639 cases per outbreak; the median size was four cases per outbreak. Correctional facilities had the largest median outbreak size with 18 cases per outbreak, followed by long-term care facilities with 10 cases per outbreak. During periods of high case incidence, outbreaks may be under-ascertained due to limited public health capacity, or reporting may be biased towards high-risk settings prioritized for testing. Outbreaks reported to CCOSS were dominated by jurisdictions with the largest populations.

Conclusion: The trends illustrate that COVID-19 outbreaks in 2021 were reported most frequently in community settings such as schools; however, the largest outbreaks occurred in congregate living settings. The information gathered from outbreak surveillance complemented case incidence trends and furthered understanding of COVID-19 in Canada.