December 3, 2020

Increased Intensity Of PCR Testing Reduced COVID-19 Transmission Within Countries During The First Pandemic Wave

Category: Article Summary

Topic: Testing and Treatment

Keywords (Tags): non-pharm interventions, testing

• A study across 173 countries and territories representing 99% of global COVID-19 cases concluded that among COVID-19 interventions, PCR testing had the greatest association with reducing the average reproduction number (R₀). Though testing intensity showed the largest variation among all interventions, a ten-fold increase in the ratio of tests to new cases reduced the R₀ by 9% across a range of testing levels. Other interventions such as school closures and face mask use were associated with reduced R₀, but were not statistically significant. [EDITORIAL NOTE: Time-series analyses such as this have limited ability to attribute effects to a specific intervention when multiple interventions occur simultaneously. Other interventions that may be strongly correlated with testing intensity may be more difficult to measure. The impact attributed to testing may be due to a combination of interventions.]

Rannan-Eliya et al. (Dec 2, 2020). Increased Intensity Of PCR Testing Reduced COVID-19 Transmission Within Countries During The First Pandemic Wave. Health Affairs. https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2020.01409