Testing Frequency

An antigen test used daily achieves approximately 80–90% effective sensitivity for catching a person during their infectious period. PCR used every three weeks — the realistic frequency given cost and logistics — has an effective sensitivity of approximately 5% for catching any given infection. Testing frequency is far more important for epidemic surveillance than the analytical sensitivity of any single test. Effective population surveillance requires 50–100 million tests every couple of days — approximately 100 times current U.S. testing capacity.