An assessment of nine cases of COVID-19 found higher virus concentrations in swab samples compared to sputum samples; however, simple throat swabs will provide sufficient sensitivity for diagnostic tests. High pharyngeal virus shedding occurred during the first week of symptoms, even when mild, and sputum viral shedding occurred even after symptoms ended. Based on these findings early hospital discharge followed by home isolation may be appropriate for patients who are beyond day 10 of symptoms and have less than 100,000 viral RNA copies per ml of sputum.