npj Digital Medicine (Jul 2020)

Estimating the efficacy of symptom-based screening for COVID-19

  • Alison Callahan,
  • Ethan Steinberg,
  • Jason A. Fries,
  • Saurabh Gombar,
  • Birju Patel,
  • Conor K. Corbin,
  • Nigam H. Shah

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41746-020-0300-0
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 3, no. 1
pp. 1 – 3

Abstract

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Abstract There is substantial interest in using presenting symptoms to prioritize testing for COVID-19 and establish symptom-based surveillance. However, little is currently known about the specificity of COVID-19 symptoms. To assess the feasibility of symptom-based screening for COVID-19, we used data from tests for common respiratory viruses and SARS-CoV-2 in our health system to measure the ability to correctly classify virus test results based on presenting symptoms. Based on these results, symptom-based screening may not be an effective strategy to identify individuals who should be tested for SARS-CoV-2 infection or to obtain a leading indicator of new COVID-19 cases.