1. Characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 testing for rapid diagnosis of COVID-19 during the initial stages of a global pandemic.
- Author
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Jennifer L Guthrie, Allison J Chen, Dalton R Budhram, Kirby Cronin, Adriana Peci, Paul Nelson, Gustavo V Mallo, George Broukhanski, Michelle Murti, Anna Majury, Tony Mazzulli, Vanessa G Allen, Samir N Patel, Julianne V Kus, Vanessa Tran, and Jonathan B Gubbay
- Subjects
Medicine ,Science - Abstract
Accurate SARS-CoV-2 diagnosis is essential to guide prevention and control of COVID-19. Here we examine SARS-CoV-2 molecular-based test performance characteristics and summarize case-level data related to COVID-19 diagnosis. From January 11 through April 22, 2020, Public Health Ontario conducted SARS-CoV-2 testing of 86,942 specimens collected from 80,354 individuals, primarily using real-time reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (rRT-PCR) methods. We analyzed test results across specimen types and for individuals with multiple same-day and multi-day collected specimens. Nasopharyngeal compared to throat swabs had a higher positivity (8.8% vs. 4.8%) and an adjusted estimate 2.9 Ct lower (SE = 0.5, p
- Published
- 2021
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