Alliance for Pandemic Preparedness

October 23, 2020

SARS CoV-2 Surveillance and Exposure in the Perioperative Setting with Universal Testing and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Policies

Category:

Topic:

Keywords (Tags): ,

  • Universal PCR-based surveillance testing for SARS-CoV-2 before surgeries or procedures at a tertiary care center in New York City identified 65 patients (0.6%) were positive out of 11,540 patients tested. The proportion of tests that were positivity peaked at 4.3% and fell below 0.3% after April 2020. Three of the 65 individuals who tested positive were pre-symptomatic, and 38 were asymptomatic. Five patients newly tested positive in the immediate post-operative period, exposing 82 employees with one case of probable transmission (1.2%).

Aslam et al. (Oct 22, 2020). SARS CoV-2 Surveillance and Exposure in the Perioperative Setting with Universal Testing and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Policies. Clinical Infectious Diseases. https://doi.org/10.1093/cid/ciaa1607