Recovery, Renewal, Resilience

The basic idea of pooled testing is that instead of testing samples from individuals one at a time, samples from multiple individuals (pools) would be mixed together at a testing facility, and tested as one sample. If the test comes back negative the whole pool is clear. If the test is positive, the pool can be tested individually instead. Pooled testing is a means to test more people faster, using few tests, and for less money, and has long been used to test large asymptomatic populations for disease e.g. to screen for sexually transmitted diseases, and to test donated blood for Hepatitis B and C, Zika virus and HIV. Consider:

• The cost saving benefits of pooled testing over testing each individual - schools and businesses saddled with testing costs could lower costs by as much as 75%
• The scalability of pooled testing - batched testing of pools can provide data covering large areas such as schools and businesses
• Pooled testing could ramp up the number of coronavirus tests while lowering testing costs, especially in low-prevalence areas