Clinical Course of Asymptomatic and Mildly Symptomatic Patients with Coronavirus Disease Admitted to Community Treatment Centers, South Korea

Abstract

We evaluated the clinical course of asymptomatic and mildly symptomatic patients with laboratory-confirmed coronavirus disease (COVID-19) admitted to community treatment centers (CTCs) for isolation in South Korea. Of 632 patients, 75 (11.9%) had symptoms at admission, 186 (29.4%) were asymptomatic at admission but developed symptoms during their stay, and 371 (58.7%) remained asymptomatic during their entire clinical course. Nineteen (3.0%) patients were transferred to hospitals, but 94.3% (573/613) of the remaining patients were discharged from CTCs upon virologic remission. The mean virologic remission period was 20.1 days (SD + 7.7 days). Nearly 20% of patients remained in the CTCs for 4 weeks after diagnosis. The virologic remission period was longer in symptomatic patients than in asymptomatic patients. In mildly symptomatic patients, the mean duration from symptom onset to virologic remission was 11.7 days (SD + 8.2 days). These data could help in planning for isolation centers and formulating self-isolation guidelines.

Keywords: 2019 novel coronavirus disease; COVID-19; RT-PCR; SARS; SARS-CoV-2; South Korea; asymptomatic; community treatment center; coronavirus; mild; quarantine facility; respiratory infections; severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; viruses; zoonoses.

Figure 1

Cumulative virologic remission rate for coronavirus disease in patients in South Korea who were symptomatic at the time of entrance to a community treatment center (CTC), asymptomatic at the time of entrance to the CTC but developed symptoms during CTC admission, and asymptomatic during the course of illness after diagnosis. Cumulative remission rates of each group were calculated according to the time from diagnosis to virologic remission.

Figure 2

Cumulative virologic remission rate for coronavirus disease in mildly symptomatic patients in South Korea after symptom onset. Cumulative virologic remission rate of mildly symptomatic patients was calculated according to the time of the symptom onset to virologic remission.

Figure 3

Virologic remission of coronavirus disease patients in South Korea according to symptoms. We noted a significant difference in virologic remission period between the asymptomatic and mildly symptomatic patients (p<0.0001).