Organizational strategies for managing COVID-19 survivors who return for care

As the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has evolved, survivors are now returning for care at hospitals and ambulatory sites, creating confusion and uncertainty for the frontline staff regarding proper management of these patients. Although the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provides clear guidance on both symptom-based and test-based strategies for discontinuation of transmission-based precautions, many healthcare workers lack confidence that the symptom-based strategy of 10 days of isolation is long enough to assure that the patient is not infectious. Thus, some staff are uncomfortable managing a patient using standard precautions, especially if the patient has undergone repeat testing and remains positive for severe acute respiratory coronavirus virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) as indicated by realtime polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) testing. For hospitals that routinely test all admissions, should patients who have recovered from COVID-19 be included? And how should these patients be managed when it comes to preprocedure testing?