question: Should facilities that perform elective medical pre-procedural testing of asymptomatic patients modify their testing based on a patient's report of a positive viral test for SARS-CoV-2 in the prior 90 days?
answer: In general, viral testing is not necessary for asymptomatic patients who have recovered from SARS-CoV-2 infection in the prior 90 days.  However, if a facility is performing medical pre-procedural viral testing and the patient cannot provide documentation of their prior positive viral test, the safest approach is for the facility to retest using their current protocol.  In this situation, antigen testing is preferred. As viral tests for SARS-CoV-2 can remain positive for extended periods, even among patients who are no longer infectious, this approach could result in unnecessary isolation of the patient or delay of an elective medical procedure. Facilities may choose to accept self-test results to determine when to proceed with elective medical procedures. Such an approach assumes that the patient self-administered the viral test properly and interpreted the viral test results correctly.  If there is uncertainty about the validity of reported self-test results, facilities might attempt to acquire documentation of the test results or elect to proceed with their own pre-procedure viral testing.