Strategic testing approaches for targeted disease monitoring can be used to inform pandemic decision-making

Nichols, James D. and Bogich, Tiffany L. and Howerton, Emily and Bjørnstad, Ottar N. and Borchering, Rebecca K. and Ferrari, Matthew and Haran, Murali and Jewell, Christopher and Pepin, Kim M. and Probert, William J. M. and Pulliam, Juliet R. C. and Runge, Michael C. and Tildesley, Michael and Viboud, Cécile and Shea, Katriona (2021) Strategic testing approaches for targeted disease monitoring can be used to inform pandemic decision-making. PLOS Biology, 19 (6). e3001307. ISSN 1545-7885

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Abstract

More than 1.6 million Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) tests were administered daily in the United States at the peak of the epidemic, with a significant focus on individual treatment. Here, we show that objective-driven, strategic sampling designs and analyses can maximize information gain at the population level, which is necessary to increase situational awareness and predict, prepare for, and respond to a pandemic, while also continuing to inform individual treatment. By focusing on specific objectives such as individual treatment or disease prediction and control (e.g., via the collection of population-level statistics to inform lockdown measures or vaccine rollout) and drawing from the literature on capture–recapture methods to deal with nonrandom sampling and testing errors, we illustrate how public health objectives can be achieved even with limited test availability when testing programs are designed a priori to meet those objectives.

Item Type: Article
Subjects: Scholar Eprints > Biological Science
Depositing User: Managing Editor
Date Deposited: 03 Apr 2023 05:36
Last Modified: 18 Oct 2024 04:34
URI: http://repository.stmscientificarchives.com/id/eprint/894

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