Saliva pool testing: Fast, affordable, easy and highly accurate testing solution for returning back to school and work

Given the onset of extensive school closures, we are facing widespread scenarios of stunted learning, social isolation, and most troubling, an unprecedented surge in student suicides, all which are amplified in underserved communities. Stringent restrictions imposed upon businesses, in the name of public health and safety, have provoked irreparable consequences for society at large. We are facing surges in unemployment, homelessness, social isolation and a troublesome widening of the socio-economic divide. The need for a fast, cost-effective, and scalable testing solution to facilitate the reopening of both schools as well as businesses, could not be urgent, as we attempt to reopen during a time of increasing cases across the globe. Here, we look at various diagnostic measures that can be leveraged to instantaneously inform infected individuals and interrupt chains of transmission.

Learning Objectives:

1. Identify distinct types of molecular diagnostics for COVID-19

2. Determine when to use one diagnostic modality over another

3. Define novel approaches to detect SARS-CoV-2