Patient characteristics
| All patients | At least one contaminated surface | p-value | ||
| No | Yes | |||
| Subjects n | 30 | 18 | 12 | |
| Male sex | 21 (70%) | 12 (67%) | 9 (75%) | 0.70 |
| Age years | 61 (21–81) | 58.5 (21–72) | 64.5 (41–81) | 0.12 |
| BMI kg·m−2 | 29.3 (20.4–48.2) | 31.1 (23.9–48.2) | 26.1 (20.4–33.3) | 0.09 |
| Hypertension | 14 (50%) | 10 (56%) | 4 (33%) | 0.41 |
| ACE inhibitor use | 9 (30%) | 8 (44%) | 1 (8%) | 0.05 |
| Hydroxychloroquine use | 10 (33%) | 7 (39%) | 3 (25%) | 0.69 |
| Immunodeficiency | 4 (13%) | 2 (11%) | 2 (17%) | 1.00 |
| Lymphopenia <0.7×109·L−1 | 12 (40%) | 4 (22%) | 8 (67%) | 0.02 |
| Temperature °C | 38.0 (36.5–40.2) | 37.6 (36.5–40.2) | 38.1 (37.2–40.0) | 0.16 |
| Diarrhoea | 2 (7%) | 0 (0%) | 2 (17%) | 0.15 |
| Cough within 24 h from sampling | 16 (53%) | 9 (50%) | 7 (58%) | 1.00 |
| Respiratory rate breaths per min | 30 (15–50) | 30.5 (15–50) | 30 (22–40) | 0.72 |
| Ventilation type | 0.12 | |||
| HFNO | 16 (53%) | 10 (56%) | 6 (50%) | |
| IMV | 8 (27%) | 5 (28%) | 3 (25%) | |
| NIV | 3 (10%) | 3 (17%) | 0 (0%) | |
| Standard oxygen mask | 3 (10%) | 0 (0%) | 3 (25%) | |
| Spontaneous breathing during sampling | 23 (77%) | 14 (78%) | 9 (75%) | 1.00 |
| Oxygen flow the day of sampling# | 50 (30–60) | 50 (2–70) | 50 (5–60) | 0.79 |
| HRCT abnormalities ≤50% of lung parenchyma¶ | 18 (64%) | 12 (75%) | 6 (50%) | 0.24 |
| Delay between first symptoms and sampling days | 11.5 (4–45) | 11 (4–45) | 12.5 (4–24) | 0.34 |
| Delay between hospital admission and sampling days | 3.5 (1–46) | 2.5 (1–46) | 5 (1–13) | 0.14 |
| Delay between room admission and sampling days | 2 (0–35) | 1.5 (0–35) | 2 (1–13) | 0.27 |
| Last SARS-CoV-2 CT value of patient before surface swabbing | 28 (13–39) | 28 (14–39) | 27 (13–37) | 1.00 |
Data are presented as n (%) or median (range), unless otherwise stated. BMI: body mass index; ACE: angiotensin converting enzyme; HFNO: high-flow nasal cannula oxygenation; IMV: invasive mechanical ventilation; NIV: noninvasive ventilation; HRCT: high-resolution computed tomography; SARS-CoV-2: severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. #: n=21; ¶: n=28. Bold text indicates p≤0.05.