This archive report was first published on 2 July 2020.
As the world grapples with the COVID-19 pandemic, a new approach to testing is gaining attention: pooled testing. This method, which has been used by the US military since the 1940s, involves combining multiple samples to detect coronavirus infections.
According to Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the country's leading infectious disease expert, 'We're in intensive discussions about how we're going to do it. We hope to get this off the ground as soon as possible.'
Health officials in China, Germany, Israel, and Thailand have already deployed pooled testing for the coronavirus. The technique works by taking samples from a large group of people, such as university students, and combining them into batches of 5-10 samples each. If a batch tests positive, the individual samples are retested to identify the infected person.
Estimates suggest that pooled testing could be done for as little as $3 per person per day, making it a cost-effective strategy for surveillance. By testing large numbers of people at a fraction of the cost, time, and necessary ingredients, pooled testing could be widely adopted by workplaces, religious organizations, and schools seeking to reopen.
