ABSTRACT
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, several hospitals around the world reported the transmission of the disease in inpatient units not directed to the care of patients affected by the disease. The objective was to report the epidemiological investigation of two outbreaks of COVID-19 in an onset of a university hospital in the general fields. It took place between July and October/2021, the data were analyzed with the SIR model (susceptible-infected-recovered) to obtain the transmission rate (R). In the first outbreak (July-August), 49 people were investigated, 25/49 (51.0%) cases, 10/25 (40.0%) staff, 15/25 (60.0%) patients, 8/25 (33.3%) medical clinic, 16/25 (66.7%) surgical clinic and 21/25 (84.0%) symptomatic. Among the cases in patients, 11/15 (73.3%) had onset of symptoms after 7 days of hospitalization. The 5W2H matrix was used as an action plan. After the execution of the actions, there were active cases for 7-10 days. The duration was 35 days, the most critical moment occurred 17 days after the first patient presented symptoms, there were 15 patients active at the same time and the R was 2.92. In the second outbreak (SeptemberOctober), 127 people were investigated and there were 6/127, of these 2/6 (33.3%) staff, 4/6 (66.6%) patients, 4/6 (66.6%) medical clinic, 2/6 (33.3%) surgical clinic, 4/6 (66.6%) symptomatic. After the execution of the actions, there were active cases for 7-10 days and there were no new cases. The duration was 18 days, the most critical moment occurred after 7 days of the first patient presenting symptoms, there were 6 people active at the same time and the R was 1.35. The first experience was effective, however late in controlling the cases. The second experiment, using data from the first, was timely, the investigation was more robust and contained the outbreak quickly and efficiently.