A study on the clinical characteristics and management of patients with mild cases of COVID-19 in shelter hospitals from China

Abstract Background: To review the clinical characteristics of patients with mild cases of novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pneumonia admitted to shelter hospitals and to investigate the management patterns of shelter hospitals. Methods: We collected and analyzed the case data of 931 patients of their general conditions, main clinical presentations, outcomes, laboratory results, imaging. Results: The average age of patients with mild cases of COVID-19 was （46.68 ± 12.13） years. There was no significant difference in incidence between males and females. The most common clinical presentations were fever (60.79%), cough (47.37%), myalgia and fatigue (17.40%), sore throat (13.86%), sputum (13.86%), diarrhea (9.98%), chest distress and dyspnea (8.38%), nasal congestion (6.02%), and runny nose (5.69%), while 10.10% were asymptomatic. In addition, anxiety and insomnia were present in 12.13% of cases. COVID-19 clinical type: mild, 248 cases (26.64%); moderate, 683 cases (73.36%). Blood biochemical examination showed that some patients exhibited WBC count (26.32%) lower to normal. Most patients tested positive for novel coronavirus nucleic acid (55.45%), while 44.55% tested negative. The rate of positive chest computed tomography (CT )examination findings was 94.36%. The most common change were ground-glass opacities (48.70%) and multiple patchy opacities (44.58%). Moreover, 65 patients (6.98%) were transferred to designated hospital, primarily due to exacerbation of novel coronavirus pneumonia (32 cases, 49.2%). Conclusions: COVID-19 patients in shelter hospitals were in a relatively mild overall condition and were predominantly of the moderate clinical type. Attention should be paid to asymptomatic positive patients and patients without respiratory symptoms. CT is still the main patient screening method. Shelter hospitals can carry the burden of epidemic prevention and treatment of patients with mild cases of COVID-19.