LAUSR

Asymptomatic persons contribute to widespread transmission of the severe acute respiratory coronavirus virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.1 Published reports from areas of high COVID-19 incidence in the United States suggest that a significant percentage of asymptomatic persons are in healthcare systems. In 2NewYork City (NYC) hospitals, 13.7% of asymptomatic pregnant women admitted for delivery tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 virus.2 Similarly, the nursing facility in Washington state with the earliest death from COVID-19 infection and the first healthcare worker infected in the United States, reported >50% positivity of their asymptomatic residents for the virus.3 Universal screening of healthcare populations may prevent in-hospital transmission of SARS-CoV-2 virus. However, testing resources and personal protective equipment (PPE) supplies to effectively isolate positive asymptomatic persons are currently limited, resulting in provider safety concerns. Upon developing real-time reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (rRT-PCR) tests in-house with >98% sensitivity, as well as increasing the availability of PPE at our institution, we initiated universal screening of patients on hospital admission using nasopharyngeal swabs to identify and isolate asymptomatic positive patients to prevent in-hospital transmission of SARS-CoV-2. We report our experience with universal screening of asymptomatic hospitalized persons, including a comparison of demographics between symptomatic and asymptomatic populations.