Background Convalescent plasma is frequently administered to patients with Covid-19 and has been reported, largely on the basis of observational data, to improve clinical outcomes. Minimal data are available from adequately powered randomized, controlled trials. Methods We randomly assigned hospitalized adult patients with severe Covid-19 pneumonia in a 2:1 ratio to receive convalescent plasma or placebo. The primary outcome was the patient’s clinical status 30 days after the intervention, as measured on a six-point ordinal scale ranging from total recovery to death. Results A total of 228 patients were assigned to receive convalescent plasma and 105 to receive placebo. The median time from the onset of symptoms to enrollment in the trial was 8 days (interquartile range, 5 to 10), and hypoxemia was the most frequent severity criterion for enrollment. The infused convalescent plasma had a median titer of 1:3200 of total SARS-CoV-2 antibodies (interquartile range, 1:800 to 1:3200]. No patients were lost to follow-up. At day 30 day, no significant difference was noted between the convalescent plasma group and the placebo group in the distribution of clinical outcomes according to the ordinal scale (odds ratio, 0.83 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.52 to 1.35; P=0.46). Overall mortality was 10.96% in the convalescent plasma group and 11.43% in the placebo group, for a risk difference of −0.46 percentage points (95% CI, −7.8 to 6.8). Total SARS-CoV-2 antibody titers tended to be higher in the convalescent plasma group at day 2 after the intervention. Adverse events and serious adverse events were similar in the two groups. Conclusions No significant differences were observed in clinical status or overall mortality between patients treated with convalescent plasma and those who received placebo. (PlasmAr ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT04383535 .)

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Introduction: To describe patients´ characteristics of confirmed COVID-19 with mild symptoms discharged home from the Emergency Department (ED) and followed using telemedicine, to estimate ED-readmission rates and hospitalization, and to explore associated factors with these clinical outcomes. Methods: We performed a retrospective cohort study in Hospital Italiano de Buenos Aires from June to August 2020, which included patients with mild COVID-19 symptoms, diagnosed with a positive result. Follow-up occurred from discharged until ED-readmission or 14 days. We estimate cumulative incidence using the Kaplan-Meier model and associated factors using logistic regression. Results: We included 1,239 patients, with a median of 41 years and 53.82% male. A total of 167 patients were readmitted to the ED within 14 days, with a global incidence rate of 13.08% (95%CI 11.32-15.08). Of these, 83 required hospitalization (median time from diagnosis 4.98 days), 5.98% was not related to any COVID-19 complication, and five patients died. After adjustment by confounders (age ≥65, sex, diabetes, hypertension, former smoking, active smoking, fever, diarrhea, and oxygen saturation), we found significant associations: former smoking (adjusted OR 2.09, 95% CI 1.31-3.34, p0 .002), fever (aOR 1.56, 95% CI 1.07-2.28, p0.002) and oxygen saturation (aOR 0.82, 95% CI 0.71-0.95, p0.009). Conclusion: The 13% rate of ED-readmission during 14 days of follow-up of mild symptomatic COVID-19 patients initially managed as outpatients with telehealth is highly significant in hospital management, quality performance, and patient safety.

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