Alliance for Pandemic Preparedness

May 19, 2020

A Novel Cohorting and Isolation Strategy for Suspected COVID-19 Cases during a Pandemic

Category:

Topic:

  • Patterson et al. evaluated a clinical triaging tool with four categories based on likelihood of having COVID-19 and risk of having a poor health outcome. Individuals with lowest likelihood of having COVID-19 and highest risk of having a poor outcome were prioritized for single-occupancy rooms while the others groups were “cohorted” by putting them in reduced occupancy multi-bedded bays on wards designated for suspected COVID-19 patients. Among 93 patients suspected of having COVID-19, 79 (85%) received a COVID-19 diagnosis at some point during admission. Of the 14 without COVID-19, 10 had been placed in the low-likelihood/high-risk category and were admitted to single-occupancy rooms. 28 (30%) of the suspected COVID-19 patients were evaluated to be low risk and thus eligible for cohorting. No symptomatic hospital acquired infections were detected in the cohorted patients.

Patterson et al. (May18,2020). A Novel Cohorting and Isolation Strategy for Suspected COVID-19 Cases during a Pandemic. Pre-print downloaded May 19 from https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.05.14.20091843