AUTHOR=Mladonicky Janice , Bedada Addisalem , Yoder Colin , VanderWaal Kimberly , Torrison Jerry , Wells Scott J. TITLE=Pooled surveillance testing for asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infections at a Veterinary Teaching Hospital College, University of Minnesota, December 2020–April 2021 JOURNAL=Frontiers in Public Health VOLUME=10 YEAR=2022 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/public-health/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2022.879107 DOI=10.3389/fpubh.2022.879107 ISSN=2296-2565 ABSTRACT=

To evaluate the use of asymptomatic surveillance, we implemented a surveillance program for asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection in a voluntary sample of individuals at the College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Minnesota. Self-collected anterior nasal samples were tested using real time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), in a 5:1 pooled testing strategy, twice weekly for 18 weeks. Positive pools were deconvoluted into individual tests, revealing an observed prevalence of 0.07% (3/4,525). Pooled testing allowed for large scale testing with an estimated cost savings of 79.3% and modeling demonstrated this testing strategy prevented up to 2 workplace transmission events, averting up to 4 clinical cases. At the study endpoint, antibody testing revealed 80.7% of participants had detectable vaccine antibody levels while 9.6% of participants had detectable antibodies to natural infection.