Covid-19 antibody tests: a briefing

Baraniuk, Chris

doi:10.1136/bmj.m2284

Cited by 38 publications

(55 citation statements)

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“…Conventional contact tracing methods include a mixture of patient interviews and contact verifications to map the social and work encounters of an infected individual. These methods enable the contact tracer to obtain a comprehensive list of persons potentially exposed to infectious individuals [ 5 , 6 ]. Additional measures, such as patient and visitor registration system downloads, staff roster and electronic medical record (EMR) reviews, and direct observations via closed-circuit television have been employed for contact tracing in health care settings [ 7 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…During the COVID-19 outbreak, contact tracing can be challenging in large communities with a limited pool of contact tracers [ 6 , 10 ]. Technology can potentially overcome this barrier by simplifying the process of data collection.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Despite the potential of contact tracing apps in enhancing contact tracing efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic, this potential can only be realized when 60% of the population use the app [ 6 ]. The efficacy of large-scale technology adoption depends on the law and enforcement measures of the country, public trust in personal data protection, and users’ perceived utility of adopting the technology, along with other factors [ 21 - 23 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Performance of Digital Contact Tracing Tools for COVID-19 Response in Singapore: Cross-Sectional Study

Huang¹,

Guo²,

Lee³

et al. 2020

JMIR Mhealth Uhealth

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Background Effective contact tracing is labor intensive and time sensitive during the COVID-19 pandemic, but also essential in the absence of effective treatment and vaccines. Singapore launched the first Bluetooth-based contact tracing app—TraceTogether—in March 2020 to augment Singapore’s contact tracing capabilities. Objective This study aims to compare the performance of the contact tracing app—TraceTogether—with that of a wearable tag-based real-time locating system (RTLS) and to validate them against the electronic medical records at the National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID), the national referral center for COVID-19 screening. Methods All patients and physicians in the NCID screening center were issued RTLS tags (CADI Scientific) for contact tracing. In total, 18 physicians were deployed to the NCID screening center from May 10 to May 20, 2020. The physicians activated the TraceTogether app (version 1.6; GovTech) on their smartphones during shifts and urged their patients to use the app. We compared patient contacts identified by TraceTogether and those identified by RTLS tags within the NCID vicinity during physicians’ 10-day posting. We also validated both digital contact tracing tools by verifying the physician-patient contacts with the electronic medical records of 156 patients who attended the NCID screening center over a 24-hour time frame within the study period. Results RTLS tags had a high sensitivity of 95.3% for detecting patient contacts identified either by the system or TraceTogether while TraceTogether had an overall sensitivity of 6.5% and performed significantly better on Android phones than iPhones (Android: 9.7%, iPhone: 2.7%; P<.001). When validated against the electronic medical records, RTLS tags had a sensitivity of 96.9% and specificity of 83.1%, while TraceTogether only detected 2 patient contacts with physicians who did not attend to them. Conclusions TraceTogether had a much lower sensitivity than RTLS tags for identifying patient contacts in a clinical setting. Although the tag-based RTLS performed well for contact tracing in a clinical setting, its implementation in the community would be more challenging than TraceTogether. Given the uncertainty of the adoption and capabilities of contact tracing apps, policy makers should be cautioned against overreliance on such apps for contact tracing. Nonetheless, leveraging technology to augment conventional manual contact tracing is a necessary move for returning some normalcy to life during the long haul of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Performance of Digital Contact Tracing Tools for COVID-19 Response in Singapore: Cross-Sectional Study

Huang¹,

Guo²,

Lee³

et al. 2020

JMIR Mhealth Uhealth

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The sample was immediately centrifuged, stored at a temperature of -80 °C, and analyzed using Elecsys® (Roche, Basel, Switzerland) Anti-SARS-CoV-2 immunoassay (sensitivity of 100% and specificity of 99.8%) [20] for the quantitative detection of Immunoglobulin G/immunoglobulin M (IgG/IgM) antibodies against SARS-CoV-2. An independent evaluation by the UK Public Health has estimated its sensitivity and specificity to be 87% and 100%, respectively [21]. For quality assurance, positive and negative controlled tests were carried out.…”

Section: Data Collection Proceduresmentioning

confidence: 99%

Does Working in a COVID-19 Receiving Health Facility Influence Seroprevalence to SARS-CoV-2?

Noor¹,

Haq²,

Haq³

et al. 2020

Cureus

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“…As for antibody testing,5 there are the same mistakes. Heralded by our political leaders as “game changing” and an “important milestone,” antibody testing is being ramped up, with healthcare trusts being asked to be ready to rapidly process thousands of tests a day.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Covid 19: Where’s the strategy for testing?

Godlee¹

2020

BMJ

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Covid-19 antibody tests: a briefing

Abstract: Antibody tests are a potentially useful tool in the pandemic response—but what are they, how do they work, and are they all the same? Chris Baraniuk explains

Cited by 38 publications

References 1 publication

Performance of Digital Contact Tracing Tools for COVID-19 Response in Singapore: Cross-Sectional Study

Performance of Digital Contact Tracing Tools for COVID-19 Response in Singapore: Cross-Sectional Study

Does Working in a COVID-19 Receiving Health Facility Influence Seroprevalence to SARS-CoV-2?

Covid 19: Where’s the strategy for testing?

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