COVID-19 screening during fertility treatment: how do guidelines compare against each other?

Papathanasiou, Athanasios

Various fertility scientific societies have published pathways and recommendations for COVID-19 screening during fertility treatments. As there is currently very limited research evidence on how to best deliver this screening, it is not surprising that there are noticeable differences between their recommendations. This paper compares the screening pathways recommended by these guidelines, in the light of the emerging evidence. It proposes the more liberal use of viral testing for improving detection of asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic fertility patients. It also argues that a negative test result on symptomatic individuals should not be over-relied upon for allowing the treatment to proceed. In these cases, a low threshold for cancellation may still need to be maintained.