No Correlation between CT Values and Severity of Disease or Mortality Inpatients with COVID 19 Disease

There are several reports of Ct values of RT PCR assays for COVID 19 being associated with disease severity andinfectivity. We studied the correlation between Ct values and disease severity and mortality at our hospital. Allpatients with RT PCR diagnosed COVID 19 illness admitted at the study site and for whom Ct values wereavailable were included in the study.

The patients with mild disease had significantly lower Ct values than pa-tients with severe disease but had also been tested significantly earlier in the illness than those with severedisease. The patients who died had significantly lower Ct values than patients who survived but here again theyhad significantly shorter duration of symptoms before testing. We therefore recommend that the time of testing since the onset of symptoms should be controlled for while correlating Ct values with disease severity.