Cross-Sectional Assessment of SARS-CoV-2 Viral Load by Symptom Status in Massachusetts Congregate Living Facilities | Zendy

Niall J. Len | Zendy; Roby P. Bhattacharyya | Zendy; Michael J. Mina | Zendy; Heidi L. Rehm | Zendy; Deborah T. Hung | Zendy; Sandra Smole | Zendy; Ann E. Woolley | Zendy; Eric S. Lander | Zendy; Stacey Gabriel | Zendy

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Cross-Sectional Assessment of SARS-CoV-2 Viral Load by Symptom Status in Massachusetts Congregate Living Facilities

Author(s) -

Niall J. Len,

Roby P. Bhattacharyya,

Michael J. Mina,

Heidi L. Rehm,

Deborah T. Hung,

Sandra Smole,

Ann E. Woolley,

Eric S. Lander,

Stacey Gabriel

Publication year - 2021

Publication title -

the journal of infectious diseases

Language(s) - English

Resource type - Journals

SCImago Journal Rank - 2.69

H-Index - 252

eISSN - 1537-6613

pISSN - 0022-1899

DOI - 10.1093/infdis/jiab367

Subject(s) - viral load , covid-19 , medicine , transmission (telecommunications) , cross sectional study , sampling (signal processing) , coronavirus , environmental health , virology , emergency medicine , disease , virus , pathology , filter (signal processing) , outbreak , computer science , infectious disease (medical specialty) , electrical engineering , computer vision , engineering

Transmission of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) from people without symptoms confounds societal mitigation strategies. From April to June 2020, we tested nasopharyngeal swabs by reverse transcriptase quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) from 15 514 staff and 16 966 residents of nursing homes and assisted living facilities in Massachusetts. Cycle threshold (Ct) distributions were very similar between populations with (n = 739) and without (n = 2179) symptoms at the time of sampling (mean Ct, 25.7 vs 26.4; ranges 12–38). However, as local cases waned, those without symptoms shifted towards higher Ct. With such similar viral load distributions, existing testing modalities should perform comparably regardless of symptoms, contingent upon time since infection.

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