It can be a huge challenge for schools and businesses to determine how to establish an effective COVID-19 testing program, especially with the multiple testing options currently on the market. An innovative online tool funded by the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB), part of the National Institutes of Health, helps organizations choose a COVID-19 testing strategy that works best for their specific needs. He COVID-19 Testing Impact Calculator is a free resource that shows how different approaches to testing and other mitigation measures, such as wearing masks, can slow the spread of the virus in any organization.
A team led by the Consortiums for Improving Medicine with Innovation and Technology (CIMIT) at Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, and researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, developed the tool to model the costs and benefits of COVID-19 testing strategies for individual organizations. The team developed their mathematical model and calculator as part of the NIH’s Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics (RADx) technology program. The calculator is simple: a user enters a few specific details about their site and the tool produces custom scenarios for surveillance testing. The tool models four different COVID-19 testing methods, including on-site and laboratory, and estimates the number of people who will be tested each day. Shows the estimated cost of each testing option and describes the trade-offs in speed and accuracy of each test type.
“The NIH RADx initiative has enabled innovation and growth in the creation of new, rapid COVID-19 testing technologies,” said Bruce J. Tromberg, Ph.D., NIBIB director and RADx Tech program leader. “With this tool, school administrators and business owners can quickly evaluate the cost and performance of different tests to help find the best option for their unique organization.”
“Providing schools and businesses with clear guidance on risk reduction behaviors and testing helps them stay open safely, which is valuable to the economy and society as a whole,” said Nancy Gagliano, MD, leader of the RADx Tech Implementation Core. “There is nothing like this available in the country.”
He COVID-19 Testing Impact Calculator It also shows how other countermeasures recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, such as masks, contact tracing and social distancing, can work in conjunction with testing to keep people safe. Users input which of these measures are implemented in their organization and the tool integrates this information to produce testing recommendations. By adjusting these inputs, users get a striking demonstration of how implementing simple countermeasures can dramatically reduce their testing costs. For example, for a site that allows maskless activities, such as meetings or dinners, reducing the group size in the calculator from 12 to six reduces the cost of the recommended testing strategy by more than half. Therefore, the tool can inform leaders about how implementing these practices, in addition to testing, can keep their school or business open safely and with less expenses.
The tool’s co-developer, Anette (Peko) Hosoi, Ph.D., is associate dean of engineering and the Neil and Jane Pappalardo Professor of Mechanical Engineering at MIT. It is also affiliated with the university’s Institute for Data, Systems and Society (IDSS), where students and researchers combine cutting-edge data analytics with social science methodology to address pressing social challenges like the coronavirus pandemic.
“There is often a false dichotomy perpetuated that we need to stop COVID or reopen the economy,” Hosoi said. “But we now know a lot about how this disease spreads and the answer is not an either/or proposition. We know what kind of measures are necessary to keep everything running and mitigate the spread during operation – maybe not under normal conditions, but certainly under functional conditions.”
Co-developer Paul Tessier, Ph.D., is director of product development at CIMIT, the coordinating center for RADx Tech. “The calculator is an important enabler for testing technologies that are developed, commercialized and deployed with the help of the RADx Tech program,” Tessier said. He explained that implementing a testing program involves important considerations, including the cost and number of testing instruments, the organization of test takers, and determining the optimal frequency of testing. “We are excited to join forces with MIT’s IDSS to develop a decision-making tool to operate safely.”
He COVID-19 Testing Impact Calculator is in www.whentotest.org.
This project was funded by the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, National Institutes of Health, through the NIH RADx℠ Initiative under grant #U54EB015408 and contracts #75N92020P00132 and #75N92020P00171.
About Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics (RADx)YE) initiative: The RADx initiative was launched on April 29, 2020 to accelerate innovation in the development, commercialization and deployment of technologies for COVID-19 testing. The initiative has four programs: RADx Tech, RADx Advanced Technology Platforms, RADx Underserved Populations and RADx Radical. Leverages existing NIH point-of-care technology research network. The RADx initiative partners with federal agencies, including the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health, the Department of Defense, the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Learn more about the RADx initiative and its programs: https://www.nih.gov/radx.
About the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB): NIBIB’s mission is to improve health by leading the development and accelerating the application of biomedical technologies. The Institute is committed to integrating the physical and engineering sciences with the biological sciences to advance basic research and healthcare. NIBIB supports research and development of emerging technologies within its internal laboratories and through grants, collaborations and training. More information is available on the NIBIB website: https://www.nibib.nih.gov.
About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation’s medical research agency, includes 27 institutes and centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency that conducts and supports basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures of common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit https://www.nih.gov/radx.
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