Avoidance of preferred beta-lactam therapy in patients who report allergy is associated with an increased risk of adverse events. Development of inpatient programs aimed at accurately identifying beta-lactam allergies to safely promote beta-lactam administration among these patients is warranted.

I n December 2019, an outbreak of acute respiratory illness secondary to a novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) originated in Wuhan, China. As of May 13, 2020, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has caused a global pandemic resulting in more than 4 170 000 cases and over 287 000 deaths. 1 This pandemic has placed immense, and in some cases overwhelming, strain on health care systems around the world. Most people with COVID-19 present initially with a mild illness and do not require hospital admission. 2 These patients are generally discharged home to self-isolation as a means of reducing the burden on the health care system and limiting spread of COVID-19 to other, vulnerable patients and staff in hospital. 3 We expected, however, that, owing to self-isolation requirements, there would be no formal method for physician assessments or counselling to occur in outpatients whose tests subsequently return as positive for COVID-19. The aim of our study was to develop and test the feasibility of a virtual care program for physician assessment and follow-up of outpatients with COVID-19 in self-isolation. Methods Design and setting Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre is a 627-bed academic tertiary care centre located in Toronto, Ontario. Patients who present to our institution with suspected COVID-19 infection and mild symptoms are sent home to self-isolate while test results are pending. Institutional testing criteria for COVID-19 have evolved throughout the pandemic. Early in the pandemic, criteria for testing focused on patients with respiratory symptoms and a compatible history of travel to a high-risk country within the preceding 14 days. With ongoing local