Clinical Features of 81 Hospitalized Patients with 2019 Novel Coronavirus-Infected Pneumonia in Jingzhou, China: A Descriptive Study

Background: Since the outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, a large number of people have been infected. However the majority of existing medical institutions could not report the Ct value (Cycle threshold), can only distinguish between positive and negative. In fact, our prediction of viral load is absolutely critical to the severity of the disease and the clinical diagnosis. Methods: We collected the basic data of 81 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 and admitted to Jingzhou central hospital. The epidemiological and clinical characteristics were compared between COVID-19 patients . And compared the relationship between viral load and clinical characteristics, epidemiology, laboratory examination and prognosis. Findings: All of those 81 patients diagnosed as COVID-19, according to the detection of viral nucleic acid load, the viral load of the patients was divided into three levels: Grade1, Grade 2, and Grade 3. Significant differences were observed in close contact with the patients (p=0·016). Grade1 was 36·4%, Grade 2 was 60·9%, and Grade 3 was 75·0%. Remarkably, we found that among the patients with nucleic acid conversion to negative, 13 cases were improved (65·0%), and 5 cases (19·2%) without significant improvement, no patient were worse than before. And the deterioration of the patients all from the COVID-19 patients whose nucleic acid detection didn’t turn to negative. Interpretation: Patients with a history of close contact with a confirmed patient have a high viral load. We found that the prognosis of patients with nucleic acid turning negative is better, and patients who have deteriorated are from patients who have not become negative. Funding Statement: This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [Grants 81974456]; the Clinical Research Physician Program of Tongji Medical College; the Huazhong University of Science and Technology [Grant 5001540075]. Declaration of Interests: All authors declare no competing interests. Ethics Approval Statement: The study was approved by the Human Assurance Committee (HAC) of Jingzhou Central Hospital, and a written informed consent was obtained from each participant.