May 4, 2021

Factors Associated With Access to and Timing of Coronavirus Testing Among US Adults After Onset of Febrile Illness

Category: Article Summary

Topic: Testing and Treatment

Keywords (Tags): testing

• In a study of 2,679 US participants reporting new onset of fever from April 2020 to October 2020, only 17% indicated ever taking a SARS-CoV-2 test within 2 weeks of symptom onset, and only 12% indicated receiving a result. Among those who received a SARS-CoV-2 test result, only 21% received their test result within 7 days of febrile illness onset. The proportion of participants who received test results within 7 days of febrile illness was 10% during early April and rose to 24% by July, then only marginally increased to 26% by the end of the study in October at the start of the winter surge. Participants responded to daily surveys on COVID-19 symptoms and weekly surveys about COVID-19 testing. Estimates of time from onset to test were obtained using serial survey responses and time-to-event modeling.

Pletcher et al. (May 3, 2021). Factors Associated With Access to and Timing of Coronavirus Testing Among US Adults After Onset of Febrile Illness. JAMA Network Open. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.8500