COVID-19 定期篩檢之必要性？

Necessity of Performing Routine Test for Coronavirus Disease 2019

新型冠狀病毒(severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, SAR-SCoV2)自2020年起造成人類大規模感染，累計至2023年1月全球有6億人感染。經研究顯示Omicron的潛伏期較短，相較於Delta臨床症狀也較輕微或無症狀。因為無症狀感染者或是症狀前感染者，沒有就醫需求，也不會被體溫篩檢站發現，所以這些隱形感染族群在社區裡具有潛在傳播的風險，可能造成社區或醫療機構COVID-19疫情的傳播。照護確診病人的醫療照護人力比一般病人高；另，醫療機構發生COVID-19群聚感染，病人若產生併發症，會增加住院期間醫療成本，在疫情爆發發情況下，可能會造成醫療人力枯竭，影響醫療照護作業。所以建議各家醫院可依據就醫病人特性及醫院規模，用抗原快篩來擬訂定期篩檢規範。以常規篩檢措施作為醫院COVID-19疫情的監控，並針對特定族群進行定期篩檢，減少輕症或無症狀感染個案的傳播，避免造成醫院內感染，以維持疫情在大流行期間臨床照護人力可以持續運作，保護醫療人力量能。

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome corona virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), with more than 600 million confirmed cases since 2020. Several studies have shown that the incubation period of the O-micron variant of SARS-CoV-2 is shorter and its clinical presentation is milder or asymptomatic compared with the delta variant. However, asymptomatic or presymptomatic infected individuals, who have no medical needs and are not detected by temperature- screening stations, pose a potential transmission risk to the community, which may lead to COVID-19 outbreaks in the community or healthcare institutions. The number of medical staff required to care for confirmed patients with COVID-19 was higher than that required for general patients. Moreover, if healthcare institutions experience COVID-19 cluster infections and patients develop complications, medical costs increase during hospitalization. An epidemic outbreak may cause the depletion of medical personnel, affecting the operation of medical care. Therefore, hospitals should develop regular screening protocols using rapid antigen screening tests based on patient characteristics and hospital size. Routine screening measures can be used to monitor the COVID-19 pandemic in hospitals, and periodic screening can be performed in specific populations to reduce the spread of mild or asymptomatic infections, avoid hospital-acquired infections, and maintain the operation of clinical care personnel during the pandemic to protect the healthcare workforce.