FebriDx host-response point-of-care testing improves patient triage for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the emergency department

Unfortunately, the symptoms of SARS-CoV-2 are protean and not easily distinguished from other disease entities. [...]patients with mixed infection status may be placed in stretchers near each other. Another major advantage of using rapid POC assays, either antigen or antiviral host-response tests, during the initial ED visit is that they are less likely than PCR testing to pick up residual virus from a prior infection in patients who have recovered from COVID-19. [...]rapid tests can also help prevent unnecessary use of isolation rooms on medical floors and intensive care units in hospitals with limited space. [...]with the advent of effective COVID-19 therapeutics, including monoclonal antibodies and antiviral agents that need to be administered early in the course of illness, tension has developed between wanting to move patients quickly from the ED if they do not need to be there and providing COVID-19 diagnoses of quickly so that they are eligible to receive medications when they are most likely to improve outcomes.20,21 The high positive predictive value of the antigen tests makes them appropriate for this use as well, and patients who are well enough to be discharged from the ED would not need to substantially prolong their visit waiting for a PCR test.