Table 2.

Comparison of In Vitro SARS‐CoV‐2 Tests Granted Emergency Use Authorizations by the US FDA

	Molecular	Antigen	Serology
Test type	Viral	Viral	Antibody
Diagnostic test	Yes	Yes	No
Description	Nucleic acid amplification test to detect viral RNA	Detects viral proteins in the nasal cavity	Detects the presence of IgA, IgM & IgG antibodies against SARS‐CoV‐2
Measure	Current infection with SARS‐CoV‐2	Current infection with SARS‐CoV‐2	Past exposure to SARS‐CoV‐2
Platform technology	RT‐PCR, LAMP, CRISPR	Lateral flow	Lateral flow, ELISA, CIA
Sample type	Nasal or throat swab, saliva, bronchoalveolar lavage fluid	Nasal or throat swab	Blood draw (plasma, serum, whole blood) or finger stick
Testing window	Days 1–28 after symptom onset, optimal days 3–12	Days 1–28 after symptom onset, optimal days 3–12	IgA/IgM: from day 5 after symptom onset, optimal days 14–21; IgG: from day 14 after symptom onset up to 6 weeks
Result turnaround time	Same day or up to a week (depending on location); point‐of‐care option available (within 1–2 hours)	Rapid, point‐of‐care (within 15 minutes)	Same day or up to 1–3 days (depending on location); point‐of‐care option available (within 15–30 minutes)

CIA = chemiluminescent immunoassay; CRISPR = clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats; ELISA = enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay; FDA = US Food and Drug Administration; Ig = immunoglobulin; LAMP = loop‐mediated isothermal amplification; RT‐PCR = real‐time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction; SARS‐CoV‐2 = severe acute respiratory syndrome‐coronavirus 2.