PONE-D-21-20101

Evaluation of Clinical Outcomes of Patients with Mild Symptoms of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Discharged from the Emergency Departments

PLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Soleimanpour,

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Edris Hasanpoor

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

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Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Partly

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2. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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3. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

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Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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4. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

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Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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5. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #1: Dear Associate editor

Thanks to the authors. I reviewed the article. It is valuable research in the pandemic era. The title, introduction, methodology, and conclusion are appropriate. There is no plagiarism in it. The writing is appropriate and completely understandable. Moreover, recommendations are consistent with the finding, and referencing and citations were correct and so English writing was acceptable. The article needs minor revision and can be acceptable for publication. My comments are as follows:

1- The authors do not discuss the specifics of the hospital involved in the study.

2- Please mention the weak and strong points of your study

Reviewer #2: 1-Is there any information regarding the severity scores like APACHE or SAPS in the study population?

2-There should be a table showing demographic characteristics of the patients in the study.

3-is there any information about the duration of ED stay, method of ventilation, prescribed drugs, antiviral drugs, ...?

4-What was the criteria used for mild category of COVID-19 in this study?

5-What was the criteria for discharge of patients from ED?

6-it is better to show the any information about ED revisits, inpatient admissions, ICU admissions after discharge from hopital.

7-How did the authors delete the effect of confounding factors from the study outcome?

8-Discussion should be improved and revised based on the study results and comparison with previous ones.

9-What is the new finding of this study compared to previous ones the this field?

10-Is there any data regarding economic situation of patients,as previous studies showed an important economic consequence of the disease at an early post-hospital phase.

11-What was the limitation of the study?

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Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: Yes: Ata Mahmoodpoor

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Evaluation of Clinical Outcomes of Patients with Mild Symptoms of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Discharged from the Emergency Departments

PONE-D-21-20101R1

Dear Dr. Soleimanpour

We’re pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been judged scientifically suitable for publication and will be formally accepted for publication once it meets all outstanding technical requirements. Within one week, you’ll receive an e-mail detailing the required amendments. When these have been addressed, you’ll receive a formal acceptance letter and your manuscript will be scheduled for publication.

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Kind regards,

Edris Hasanpoor

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE