De-isolation of vaccinated COVID-19 health care workers using rapid antigen detection test.

Background: COVID-19 de-isolation guidelines of health care workers (HCW) were formulated based on evidence describing the duration of infectious viral shedding of the wild SARS-CoV-2 virus. During the periods of COVID-19 vaccination and variants, a test-based approach was recommended to end isolation of HCW, based on emerging data describing the viral kinetics of COVID-19 variants. While Rapid antigen detection tests (RADT) are increasingly used in the diagnosis of COVID-19, their use is limited in de-isolation.

Methods: We described the use of RADT in the de-isolation of COVID-19 vaccinated HCW with mild infection who were asymptomatic on day 7 post diagnosis in a single center retrospective cohort study during the Omicron surge.

Results: Of the 480 HCWs, 173 (36%) had positive RADT. The positivity rate of RADT was not different in HCW who received two doses versus three doses of vaccine (34.4% versus 40.3%, p = 0.239).

Conclusions: A symptom based, test-based approach using RADT is a useful tool in the de-isolation of HCW, with mild disease, in the era of Omicron. Further studies are required to evaluate the role of RADT in de-isolation of patients with severe COVID-19 disease.