Predictors of later COVID-19 test seeking.

Background: Delays in COVID-19 testing may increase the risk of secondary household and community transmission. Little is known about what patient characteristics and symptom profiles are associated with delays in test seeking.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of all symptomatic patients diagnosed with COVID-19 and assessed in a COVID Expansion to Outpatients (COVIDEO) virtual care program between March 2020 and June 2021.

Evaluating the impact of a virtual outpatient care programme in preventing hospitalizations, emergency department visits and mortality for patients with COVID-19: a matched cohort study.

Objectives: To evaluate the impact of virtual care in preventing unnecessary healthcare visits for patients with SARS-CoV-2.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective matched cohort study, evaluating the COVID-19 Expansion to Outpatients (COVIDEO) programme involving virtual assessments for all positive patients in the Sunnybrook assessment centre from January 2020 to June 2021, followed by risk-stratified routine follow-up, couriering of oxygen saturation devices, and 24 hour/day direct-to-physician pager for urgent questions. We linked COVIDEO data to province-wide datasets, matching each eligible COVIDEO patient to ≤10 other Ontario SARS-CoV-2 patients on age, sex, neighbourhood, and date.