Communications Medicine (Jul 2022)

Comparative analyses of eighteen rapid antigen tests and RT-PCR for COVID-19 quarantine and surveillance-based isolation

  • Chad R. Wells,
  • Abhishek Pandey,
  • Seyed M. Moghadas,
  • Burton H. Singer,
  • Gary Krieger,
  • Richard J. L. Heron,
  • David E. Turner,
  • Justin P. Abshire,
  • Kimberly M. Phillips,
  • A. Michael Donoghue,
  • Alison P. Galvani,
  • Jeffrey P. Townsend

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s43856-022-00147-y
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 2, no. 1
pp. 1 – 12

Abstract

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Wells et al. use mathematical modeling to compare quarantine duration, testing frequency, and false-positive rate for 18 rapid antigen (RA) and RT-PCR tests. They show that the relative effectiveness of RA and RT-PCR tests in reducing post-quarantine transmission depends on the quarantine duration, the timing of their use in the infection time course, and the turnaround time of test results.