Alliance for Pandemic Preparedness

October 23, 2020

Utilization and Results of Repeat SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR Testing in a Presumptive Low Prevalence Population

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  • In a population of patients with a low prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection, repeat testing of negative patients who had persistent symptoms still yielded a negative result in 96% of the cases. Out of more than 5,000 patients who were tested, 4% of patients were tested more than once, and 96% of those patients were tested twice. The largest proportion of these patients (71%) were those who had an initial negative test followed by a repeat test done for persistent symptoms.

Kovacs et al. (Sept 2020). Utilization and Results of Repeat SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR Testing in a Presumptive Low Prevalence Population. Wisconsin Medical Journal. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33091285