• Xiaoting Cheng, Jialin Liu, Ning Li, Eric Nisenbaum, Qing Sun, Bing Chen, Roy Casiano, Donald Weed, Fred Telischi, James C Denneny, Xuezhong Liu, and Yilai Shu.
• ENT Institute and Otorhinolaryngology Department of the Affiliated Eye and ENT Hospital, State Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology, Institutes of Biomedical Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
• Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2020 Jun 1; 162 (6): 809-810.

AbstractMore than half of COVID-19 patients are afebrile early in the disease course, yet mildly ill or asymptomatic patients can still spread SARS-CoV-2 with high efficiency. Atypically presenting patients may be seen in noninfectious disease settings such as otolaryngology, which is a specialty prone to occupational exposure. Otolaryngologists have been infected with COVID-19 at higher rates than other specialties in China and other countries. Otolaryngology providers should maintain high clinical suspicion for mild and asymptomatic COVID-19 patients. Protective strategies should be implemented including preappointment screening, triaging, restriction of nonurgent visits and surgeries, telemedicine, and appropriate personal protective equipment use.

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