Alliance for Pandemic Preparedness

May 1, 2020

Impact of virus testing on COVID-19 case fatality rate: estimate using a fixed-effects model

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  • Terriau et al. report that a strategy of widespread screening for COVID-19 infection using RT-PCR and focusing on asymptomatic as well as symptomatic individuals could significantly decrease case-fatality ratios in France. They estimate 1 life would be saved for each additional 1000 screening tests of COVID-19 infection. The authors say their analysis supports implementation of mass screening strategies and can be used by decision-makers to implement measures to limit the disease spread.

Terriau et al. (May 1, 2020). Impact of virus testing on COVID-19 case fatality rate: estimate using a fixed-effects model. Pre-print downloaded May 1 from https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.04.26.20080531