Asymptomatic and Symptomatic Patients With Non-severe Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Have Similar Clinical Features and Virological Courses: A Retrospective Single Center Study

Abstract

The current outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been defined as a pandemic by the World Health Organization. We aimed to evaluate the clinical features and virological course of non-severe COVID-19 patients with or without symptoms who were admitted to a Chinese cabin hospital. In this retrospective single center study, we reviewed 252 laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 patients treated at one temporary cabin hospital in Wuhan, China. Demographic, clinical, serial chest computed tomography (CT), and serial viral test data were compared between asymptomatic and symptomatic patients. The association between clinical features and symptomatic status or patient referral status was analyzed. Among all 252 patients, 74 (29.4%) were asymptomatic and 138 (54.76%) had more than two family members who developed COVID-19. The probability for family clustering was similar between asymptomatic and symptomatic patients (59.70 vs. 61.64%, P = 0.79). Asymptomatic patients and symptomatic patients were equally likely to reach a virus-free state during their stay at the cabin hospital (93.15 vs. 86.44%, P = 0.13). The initial chest CT screening showed that 81 (32.1%) patients had no visible pneumonia, 52 (20.6%) had unilateral pneumonia, and 119 (47.2%) had bilateral pneumonia. Symptomatic patients had a higher chance to have bilateral pneumonia (P < 0.0001) and were less likely to show improvement on the follow-up CT scan (P = 0.0002). In total, 69 (27.4%) patients were referred to the designated hospital and only 23 (9.1%) patients were referred due to the progression of pneumonia. Non-severe COVID-19 patients can transmit the disease regardless of their symptomatic status. It is highly recommended that asymptomatic patients be identified and quarantined to eliminate the transmission of COVID-19.

Food Safety During and After the Era of COVID-19 Pandemic

“…It has been demonstrated that COVID-19 can also be transmitted by asymptomatic patients who are harboring the virus during its early incubation period before symptoms appear (Li et al, 2020;Ye et al, 2020;Zhang et al, 2020). Additionally, SARS-CoV-2 has reappeared in recovered patients leading to a reoccurrence of illness.…”

Opportunities and Risks for Research Biobanks in the COVID-19 Era and Beyond

“…Without the ability to widely share samples and data from COVID-19 patients, the research will not progress as fast as needed, to stem the pandemic through therapeutics and vaccine(s) and understanding of the varied host responses. 16,[21][22][23][24][25] Biobanks should also review the samples collected during the pandemic, to determine if underutilization should result in culling parts or complete collections that have not found value to further research.…”

Reduced maximal aerobic capacity after COVID-19 in young adult recruits, Switzerland, May 2020

“…Pulmonary sequelae impairing physical fitness have been described predominantly for hospitalised patients with COVID-19 [1][2][3]. Although lung lesions have also been described in asymptomatically infected individuals [3][4][5], it is yet unclear if these observations correlate with a measurable functional deficit in physical fitness. We performed a well-established and validated physical fitness test [6] before and after an outbreak of COVID-19 among young adult Swiss recruits.…”