Table 1.

Provisional Criteria for Hospital Discharge to Home for Patients with COVID-19 Illness

Characteristic	Criteria for discharge to home
Vital signs	• Stable measured respiratory rate (< 20 breaths per minute) • Stable blood pressure • Temperature afebrile or improving fever curve • Resting oxygen saturation ≥ 92% on room air
Social considerations	• Access to resources such as food, pharmacy, and other necessities for daily living • Access to appropriate caregivers if limited ability to engage in self-care • Transmission risk within the home (e.g., the availability of a separate bedroom to minimize sharing of immediate living spaces with others, ability to adhere to home isolation, respiratory and hand hygiene, and the presence of household members at increased risk for COVID-19 complications)
Risk enhancers	• Age ≥ 60 years • Comorbid illnesses (chronic lung disease, heart disease, poorly controlled diabetes mellitus, body mass index (BMI) ≥ 40 kg/m2, chronic kidney disease (stage 3 or higher), immunosuppression—e.g., transplant, other immunosuppression (transplant, other immunosuppressive medications, poorly controlled HIV, malignancy if patient underwent chemotherapy or surgery in the past month)

All vital sign and social consideration criteria had to be met for patients to qualify for discharge home. Risk enhancers indicated patient characteristics that should be considered when deciding whether to follow the lenient provisional criteria