The Role of Fever Clinics in the Strategic Triage of Suspected Cases of Imported COVID-19

Jia, Hui; Chang, Yuele; Zhao, Long; Li, Yunxia; Chen, Lei; Zhang, Qian; Lou, Xianzhi; Li, Chenwei; Xia, Shuyue

INTRODUCTION: Novel coronavirus pneumonia (COVID-19) is an acute respiratory infectious disease, which has the characteristic of human-to-human transmission and is extremely contagious. Correctly standardizing the process of early screening of infection or suspected cases in the fever clinic has become a key part of the fight against the pandemic. METHODS: A retrospective analysis of patients in the fever clinic of Shenyang Medical College Affiliated Central Hospital from January 23 to March 1, 2020, was conducted in the present study. RESULTS: It was found that 16 suspected cases of COVID-19 in the fever clinic were diagnosed with respiratory infections, accounting for 0.59%. CONCLUSION: In case of a negative result in the second nucleic acid test, strategic triage and typing might be more conducive for the following nucleic acid tests for suspected cases in order to prevent the spread of the epidemic caused by missed diagnosis.