COVIDStrategyCalculator: A software to assess testing and quarantine strategies for incoming travelers, contact management, and de-isolation

• Main Authors: Wiep van der Toorn, Djin-Ye Oh, Max von Kleist
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2021-06-01
• Series: Patterns
• Subjects: SARS-CoV-2; non-pharmaceutic intervention; software; RDT; PCR; testing
• Online Access: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666389921000908

Summary: While large-scale vaccination campaigns against SARS-CoV-2 are rolled out at the time of writing, non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs), including the isolation of infected individuals and quarantine of exposed individuals, remain central measures to contain the spread of SARS-CoV-2. Strategies that combine NPIs with innovative SARS-CoV-2 testing strategies may increase containment efficacy and help to shorten quarantine durations. We developed a user-friendly software tool that implements a recently published stochastic within-host viral dynamics model that captures temporal attributes of the viral infection, such as test sensitivity, infectiousness, and the occurrence of symptoms. Based on this model, the software allows to evaluate the efficacy of user-defined, arbitrary NPI and testing strategies in reducing the transmission potential in different contexts. The software thus enables decision makers to explore NPI strategies and perform hypothesis testing, e.g., with regard to the utilization of novel diagnostics or with regard to containing novel virus variants. The bigger picture: Non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPI) are, and will remain, decisive tools to contain the spread of SARS-CoV-2. Besides quarantine and isolation, diagnostic testing can be used to inform decisions on the release from, or continuation of, an isolation period. We developed a flexible software tool, the COVIDStrategyCalculator, which allows one to compute the efficacy of user-defined NPI strategies with regard to preventing SARS-CoV-2 onward transmission in different settings. By synthesizing the available knowledge on within-host viral dynamics, the software is intended to help decision makers in identifying suitable NPI strategies for SARS-CoV-2 containment, containment of novel variants or the utilization of novel diagnostics as part of national or supra-national NPI guidelines.