Postmortem Antigen- Detecting Rapid Diagnostic Tests to Predict Infectivity of SARS-CoV-2-Associated Deaths

Abstract

We investigated the infectivity of 128 severe acute respiratory disease coronavirus 2-associated deaths and evaluated predictive values of standard diagnostic procedures. Maintained infectivity (20%) did not correlate with viral RNA loads but correlated well with anti-S antibody levels. Sensitivity >90% for antigen-detecting rapid diagnostic tests supports their usefulness for assessment.