Anyone have or see in their practice a COVID result that was read as indeterminate? Pt was seen in local doc in the box with nasal swab with that result. Don't have exact details on the test type.

Depends on the test in question. In some cases, an indeterminate result indicates that only one of the two or more genes that the test targets was identified. These results can be considered presumptive positive results. In other settings, it essentially means the test didn't work.

InfectionAg is correct. My lab is performing the CDC assay which tests for the N1 and N2 targets. The sensitivity is different between these two targets so we see these indeterminate results as well. From reporting these for a while now, my non validated opinion is that we generally see these results in patients after they are through with their clinical course and are almost clear of the virus. Basically for those that are tested regularly after initial diagnosis (weekly or more frequently) they test positive, positive, indeterminate, negative. This is generally with those with a higher viral load. For those with low initial Ct values and have mild disease, this doesn't seem to happen from testing some of my friends/associates with whom I could follow up with. Testing volume is so crazy we just haven't been able to optimize the assays after initial validation. We are a smaller outfit.