COVID-19 Diagnostic Testing Redux (JCM ed.)

Laboratory testing for COVID-19, what’s new since we talked about this in August? A lot. Here are some of the questions we’ll talk about.
• Do positive antibody tests indicate that people are immune to infection by SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19?
• What sample types might replace the dreaded nasopharyneal swab for more comfortable sample collection?

• What are the new rapid tests for COVID-19, and how should they be used?

Alex is joined by two expert guests to discuss diagnostic testing for SARS-CoV-2.

- Dr. Melissa Miller, who is the Director of both the Clinical Molecular Microbiology Laboratory and the Clinical Microbiology Laboratory at University of North Carolina School of Medicine. Dr. Miller is also an Editor of JCM.

- Dr. Elitza Theel, who is the Director of the Infectious Diseases Serology laboratory at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. Dr. Theel is a member of the Editorial Board of JCM.

Links:

Antibody Testing and Serology
“Neutralizing antibodies correlate with protection from SARS-CoV-2 in humans during a fishery vessel outbreak with high attack rate” by Addetia et al. https://jcm.asm.org/content/early/2020/08/21/JCM.02107-20/article-info
“Humoral Immune Response to SARS-CoV-2 in Iceland” by Gudbjartsson et al. https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2026116

Molecular Testing
“When Should Asymptomatic Persons Be Tested for COVID-19?” By Schuetz et al. https://jcm.asm.org/content/early/2020/10/05/JCM.02563-20
CDC Testing recommendations: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/testing-overview.html
FDA SARS-CoV-2 Reference Panel Comparative Data https://www.fda.gov/medical-devices/coronavirus-covid-19-and-medical-devices/sars-cov-2-reference-panel-comparative-data?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery
CDC Wastewater Surveillance for SARS-CoV-2 https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/cases-updates/wastewater-surveillance.html
NY Times article, “Your coronavirus test is positive. Maybe it shouldn’t be.”: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/29/health/coronavirus-testing.html

Frequent, community based testing
“Rethinking Covid-19 Test Sensitivity — A Strategy for Containment” by Mina et al. https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2025631?query=featured_coronavirus

“Can We Test Our Way Out of the COVID-19 Pandemic?” by Pettengill and McAdam. https://jcm.asm.org/content/early/2020/08/24/JCM.02225-20/article-info