April 9, 2021

The Impact of Changes in Diagnostic Testing Practices on Estimates of COVID-19 Transmission in the United States

Category: Article Summary

Topic: Public Health Policy and Practice

Keywords (Tags): testing

• Trends over time and changes in the level of SARS-CoV-2 diagnostic testing and reporting practices can bias the estimates of the basic reproductive number (R0), an estimate of transmission. An increasing R0 could be overestimated if the proportion of cases captured increases over time, which can be affected by changes in testing eligibility and an increase in testing capacity, as occurred in the early months of the pandemic. The authors warn against using metrics such as R0 for guiding government-mandated restrictions without an understanding of how changes in testing practices may impact estimates of these metrics. 

Pitzer et al. (Apr 8, 2021). The Impact of Changes in Diagnostic Testing Practices on Estimates of COVID-19 Transmission in the United States. American Journal of Epidemiology. https://doi.org/10.1093/aje/kwab089