About Types of Testing

Types of Testing

1. PCR/Molecular

• PCR tests look for pieces of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, in the nose, throat, or other areas in the respiratory tract to determine if the person has an active infection.
• These are typically thought to be more accurate than Antigen tests

2. Antigen

• Antigen tests look for pieces of proteins that make up the SARS-CoV-2 virus to determine if the person has an active infection.
• These are thought to be less accurate than PCR but they are typically cheaper and faster

3. Serology (Antibody)

• Serology looks for antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 in the blood to determine if there was a past infection.

Point of Care Tests (AKA Rapid Tests)

• Point of care tests can return results in around 15 minutes. This means that instead of sending a sample to a lab for analysis and waiting days to get results, you can get results while you wait.
• Most POC tests are antigen tests. However the Abbott ID Now machine is a rapid PCR test.

Some of these machines have been on the market long before COVID, and have historically been used to test for things like strep throat and the flu. Others are new and have been developed specifically to test for COVID.

Problems with Point of Care Tests

1. Some POC test devices offer limited or no digital connections, meaning it can be difficult to automate reporting from these machines. They also only test one sample at a time.
2. They’re springing in places such as schools and places of employment, that have no EHR or LIMS, and have never had to report to public health before. That means there are probably a lot of tests that are not getting reported at all.

At-home tests

New at-home tests pose unique challenges in capturing and sending data because they eliminate clinicians and labs from the equation and rely on either the patient or the device to do the reporting—something that has never been done.

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This is a sub-page of the CDC PRIME ReportStream New Team Member Onboarding Hub.