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When To Retest: an Examination of Repeat COVID-19 PCR Patterns in an Ambulatory Population

Year: 2020

Type: article

Abstract: Health care facilities have limited supplies for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) amplification/detection, putting them under pressure to optimize reagent use. Repeat testing is a potential source of waste. CDC guidelines list screening criteria but only specify return-to-work criteria for health care providers (HCP), which divides the criteria into symptom-based, time-based, and testing based strategies (1). The testing-based strategy suggests two negative tests at least 24 h apart for clearance. However, these guidelines are for people who have initially tested positive. The Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) recently recommended repeat testing in symptomatic individuals with a sustained clinical suspicion of COVID-19 when the initial test is negative; however, the panel noted the paucity of clinical evidence regarding repeat testing (2). The purpose of this quality improvement study was to see if we could better understand the clinical utility of repeat SARS-CoV-2 PCR testing.

Source: Journal of Clinical Microbiology

DOI: 10.1128/jcm.01179-20

Authors: Dina N. Greene, Jane A. Dickerson, Alexander L. Greninger, Robert L. Schmidt

Institutions: Kaiser Permanente, University of Washington, Seattle Children's Hospital, University of Utah, ARUP Laboratories (United States)

Language: English

Topic: SARS-CoV-2 detection and testing

Subfield: Infectious Diseases

Field: Medicine

Domain: Health Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: green

OpenAlex ID: W3036576648

FWCI: 0.131

Cites: 5

Cited by: 5

Related to: 10