Out-of-Hospital Cohort Treatment of Coronavirus Disease 2019 Patients with Mild Symptoms in Korea: an Experience from a Single Community Treatment Center

Park, Peong Gang; Kim, Chang Hyup; Heo, Yoon; Kim, Tae Suk; Park, Chan Woo; Kim, Choong-Hyo

application were instead encouraged to use telephone communication. Although the center is strictly not a medical institution, we used a digital health information system, as well as a picture archiving and communication system provided by Kangwon National University Hospital and acted as if patients were admitted to a special hospital ward to communicate orders and laboratory/radiological test results. Medications for symptomatic treatment such as antipyretics were prescribed using this method, although antiviral agents were not prescribed. If patients developed worsening respiratory symptoms or fever, chest radiograph and pulse oximetry were performed. Patients were transferred to the hospital equipped for specialized treatment if a pneumonia-like lesion on chest radiography or desaturation was detected. Patients routinely received viral testing weekly. Upper respiratory tract specimens were obtained from the nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal swab, as was recommended by the KCDC, and rRT-PCR was employed to detect the virus using the published sequences. 7, 8 If the test came out negative for a patient, the following test was conducted 24 hours later. If the second test also produced a negative result, the patient was then discharged, as was recommended by the KCDC. 7 All healthcare providers monitored themselves for their body temperatures and respiratory symptoms twice a day.