ABSTRACT
Objective: To compare the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of confirmed and suspected corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases via the process of “triage-screening-isolation-transfer” in the hospitals of non-epidemic areas.Methods: The general data, epidemiological history, clinical symptoms, laboratory examination, and chest computed tomography (CT) imaging characteristics of 38 patients with suspected COVID-19, admitted between January 21 and March 5, 2020, were analyzed.Results: According to the results of the novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) ribonucleic acid (RNA) testing, the patients were divided into study group (RNA positive) and control group (RNA negative). Ultimately, 8 cases were RNA-positive and diagnosed as CDVID-19, and 30 cases were negative. Approximately half of the patients in the study group returned to Chongqing from Wuhan; this number was significantly larger than that of the control group (P<0.05). The number of subjects in close contact with the confirmed cases with SARS-CoV-2 RNA-positive and the incidence of aggregation was significantly larger in the study group than in the control group (both P<0.05). The clinical symptom of the study group was mainly low fever (with or without cough). The patients with decreased white blood cells (WBC) in the study group were significantly more than those in the control group (P<0.05). Both group had reduced lymphocytes (Lym) but the number of patients with increased C-reactive protein (CRP) in the study group was significantly more than that in the control group (P<0.05). There were different degrees of chest CT abnormalities in both study and control group (P > 0.05). Conclusion: The epidemiological investigations in screening for infectious diseases is crucial. The risk of infection was high from the primary epidemic area and/or in close contact with the confirmed case. The most common form of clustering occurrence was family aggregation. CDVID-19 was mainly characterized by fever and respiratory symptoms, although asymptomatic infection may also occur. Decreased WBC, decreased Lym, and increased CRP are common characteristics but can also be combined with other respiratory tract virus infections. COVID 19 screening by chest CT alone had certain limitations in non- epidemic areas.