One swab, two tests: Validation of dual SARS-CoV-2 testing on the Abbott ID NOW™.

BACKGROUND: Point-of-care tests (POCT) are promising tools to detect SARS-CoV-2 in specific settings. Initial reports suggest the ID NOW™ COVID-19 assay (Abbott Diagnostics Inc, USA) is less sensitive than standard real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (rRT-PCR) assays. This has raised concern over false negatives in SARS-CoV-2 POCT. OBJECTIVES: We compared the performance of the ID NOW™ COVID-19 assay to our in-house rRT-PCR assay to assess whether dry swabs used in ID NOW™ testing could be stored in transport media and be re-tested by rRT-PCR for redundancy and to provide material for further investigation. METHODS: Paired respiratory swabs collected from patients at three acute care hospitals were used. One swab in transport media (McMaster Molecular Media (MMM)) was tested for SARS-CoV-2 by a laboratory-developed two-target rRT-PCR assay. The second was stored dry in a sterile container and tested by the ID NOW™ COVID-19 assay. Following ID NOW™ testing, dry swabs were stored in MMM for up to 48 h and re-tested by rRT-PCR. Serially diluted SARS-CoV-2 particles were used to assess the impact of heat inactivation and storage time. RESULTS: Respiratory swabs (n = 343) from 179 individuals were included. Using rRT-PCR results as the comparator, the ID NOW™ COVID-19 assay had positive (PPA) and negative (NPA) percent agreements of 87.0% (95% CI:0.74-0.94) and 99.7% (95% CI:0.98-0.99). Re-tested swabs placed in MMM following ID NOW testing had PPA and NPA of 88.8% (95% CI:0.76-0.95) and 99.7% (95% CI:0.98-0.99), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Storing spent dry swabs in transport media for redundancy rRT-PCR testing is a potential approach to address possible false negatives with the ID NOW™ COVID-19 assay.

SARS-CoV-2 Not Detectable in Ocular Specimens of a Patient with a Past Infection.

Purpose: To present a a case study that aims to investigate the presence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in the ocular tissue samples of a patient previously infected with COVID-19 and determine its transmissibility.Study Design: Case ReportResults: In this case study, SARS-CoV-2 was not detected in the vitreous and uveal tissue samples by RT-PCR for detection of three gene targets in a patient with a past COVID-19 infection 15 days prior to presention with a globe rupture.Conclusions: Our findings suggest that patients with long-term existence of SARS-CoV-2 at low detectable levels may not have active intraocular viral shedding. This is of particular importance as ophthalmic surgical procedures may potentiate virus spread from patients infected with SARS-CoV-2.