Emerging evidence to support not always “just saying no” to SARS‐CoV‐2 positive donors

Kates, Olivia S.; Fisher, Cynthia E.; Rakita, Robert M.; Reyes, Jorge D.; Limaye, Ajit P.

We are gratified to see the broad discussion of our manuscript, "Use of SARS-CoV-2 infected deceased organ donors: Should we always 'just say no?'" and the companion manuscript by Shah et al., "Utilization of deceased donors during a pandemic: An argument against using SARS-CoV-2 positive donors."1,2 Our viewpoint argues that the risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission from asymptomatic or minimally symptomatic donors is likely very low. For selected patients with imminently life-threatening organ failure, transplants from deceased donors with asymptomatic or mild SARS-CoV-2 infection may offer a favorable risk/benefit balance, although factors beyond transmission risk must also be considered.