Pooled testing efficiency increases with test frequency

Abstract

Significance Frequent mass testing can slow a rapidly spreading infectious disease by quickly identifying and isolating infected individuals from the population. One proposed method to reduce the extremely high costs of this testing strategy is to employ pooled testing, in which samples are combined and tested together using one test, and the entire pool is cleared given a negative test result. This paper demonstrates that frequent pooled testing of individuals with correlated risk—even given large uncertainty about infection rates—is particularly efficient. We conclude that frequent pooled testing using natural groupings is a cost-effective way to suppress infection risk in a pandemic.