Correlation Between 3790 Quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction–Positives Samples and Positive Cell Cultures, Including 1941 Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome C

Correlation Between 3790 Quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction–Positives Samples and Positive Cell Cultures, Including 1941 Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Isolates [1] paper from Clinical Infectious Diseases: > It can be observed that at Ct = 25, up to 70% of patients remain positive in culture and that at Ct = 30 this value drops to 20%. At Ct = 35, the value we used to report a positive result for PCR, <3% of cultures are positive. We need the right tool for the job. A positive daily lick-a-stick screening test should be confirmed with serum IgM and/or PCR testing. Each tool in our toolbox has a sweet spot and tradeoffs. The key to the daily screening test is that there is only a short window early in the infection that has a CT > 25. [1] https://academic.oup.com/cid/advance-article/doi/10.1093/cid/ciaa1491/5912603 https://academic.oup.com/cid/advance-article/doi/10.1093/cid...