ArticlePLoS computational biology2021
Assessing the feasibility and effectiveness of household-pooled universal testing to control COVID-19 epidemics.
Article in PLoS computational biology, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 27 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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The trial behind it
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Who cites it
27 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 43 citations in OpenAlex.
- A scoping review of COVID-19 modelling studies in Belgium 2020-2024: incorporation of behaviour and lessons learned.Archives of public health = Archives belges de sante publique · 2026Pooled it
- Optimal resource allocation model for COVID-19: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC infectious diseases · 2024Pooled it
- Predictive triage for testing may improve control of a COVID-19 epidemic while reducing testing requirements.Archives of public health = Archives belges de sante publique · 2026Article
- Evaluating COVID-19 vaccine allocation policies using Bayesian m-top exploration.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Enhanced testing can substantially improve defense against several types of respiratory virus pandemic.Epidemics · 2025Article
- Impact of viral load on sample pooling for reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction detection-based diagnosis of coronavirus disease 2019 in Nigeria.African journal of laboratory medicine · 2025Article
- Adaptive vaccination and surveillance testing strategies for infectious diseases with diverse strain dynamics.Health systems (Basingstoke, England) · 2025Article
- Mass testing for discovery and control of COVID-19 outbreaks in adult social care: an observational study and cost-effectiveness analysis of 14 805 care homes in England.BMJ public health · 2025Article
- Optimization of Screening Strategies for COVID-19: Scoping Review.JMIR public health and surveillance · 2024Article
- A Systematic Review of Artificial Intelligence Used to Predict Loneliness, Social Isolation, and Drug Use During the COVID-19 Pandemic.Journal of multidisciplinary healthcare · 2024Review
- Population age and household structures shape transmission dynamics of emerging infectious diseases: a longitudinal microsimulation approach.Journal of the Royal Society, Interface · 2023Article
- CovAnalytical chemistry · 2022Article
- Contribution of Testing Strategies and Contact Tracing towards COVID-19 Outbreaks Control: A Mathematical Modeling Study.Tropical medicine and infectious disease · 2022Article
- Different forms of superspreading lead to different outcomes: Heterogeneity in infectiousness and contact behavior relevant for the case of SARS-CoV-2.PLoS computational biology · 2022Article
- Article
- A hybrid stochastic model and its Bayesian identification for infectious disease screening in a university campus with application to massive COVID-19 screening at the University of Liège.Mathematical biosciences · 2022Article
- Smart pooling: AI-powered COVID-19 informative group testing.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Pooled testing of traced contacts under superspreading dynamics.PLoS computational biology · 2022Article
- Perception of COVID-19 Testing in the Entire Population.Frontiers in public health · 2022Article
- A Tale of Three Recent Pandemics: Influenza, HIV and SARS-CoV-2.Frontiers in microbiology · 2022Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Outbreaks of SARS-CoV-2 are threatening the health care systems of several countries around the world. The initial control of SARS-CoV-2 epidemics relied on non-pharmaceutical interventions, such as social distancing, teleworking, mouth masks and contact tracing. However, as pre-symptomatic transmission remains an important driver of the epidemic, contact tracing efforts struggle to fully control SARS-CoV-2 epidemics. Therefore, in this work, we investigate to what extent the use of universal testing, i.e., an approach in which we screen the entire population, can be utilized to mitigate this epidemic. To this end, we rely on PCR test pooling of individuals that belong to the same households, to allow for a universal testing procedure that is feasible with the limited testing capacity. We evaluate two isolation strategies: on the one hand pool isolation, where we isolate all individuals that belong to a positive PCR test pool, and on the other hand individual isolation, where we determine which of the individuals that belong to the positive PCR pool are positive, through an additional testing step. We evaluate this universal testing approach in the STRIDE individual-based epidemiological model in the context of the Belgian COVID-19 epidemic. As the organisation of universal testing will be challenging, we discuss the different aspects related to sample extraction and PCR testing, to demonstrate the feasibility of universal testing when a decentralized testing approach is used. We show through simulation, that weekly universal testing is able to control the epidemic, even when many of the contact reductions are relieved. Finally, our model shows that the use of universal testing in combination with stringent contact reductions could be considered as a strategy to eradicate the virus.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.