Table 1.

Testing approaches for SARS-CoV-2 and types of antibody assays

Type of assay	Readout and limitations	Current scale	References
Digital surveys	subjective report on symptoms, can help to identify new infection hotspots on the population scale	millions	e.g., Menni et al.15
qRT-PCR (quantitative reverse-transcriptase PCR)	detection of acute infections, cannot detect SARS-CoV-2 after the infection has been cleared (3–4 weeks after onset of symptoms in most individuals)	hundreds of thousands to millions	e.g., Johns Hopkins University16
Sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 strains	allows tracking of the origin of strains and phylogenetic relationships and could be used to associate mutations with pathogenicity	thousands	e.g., Lu et al.17
Antibody tests	enables detection after infection has been cleared; limited use for detecting acute infection because antibodies are only produced 1–2 weeks after onset of symptoms	thousands to tens of thousands (see Table 2)	e.g., Kobokovich et al.,4018 Gronvall et al.,4319 National COVID Testing Scientific Advisory Panel et al.4920
LFA (lateral flow assay)	also called rapid diagnostic test (RDT), fast point of care (result within minutes) at cost of accuracy
ELISA (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) and CLIA (chemiluminescent immunoassay)	lab tests requiring dedicated equipment and personnel, taking hours and yielding higher accuracy than LFAs
neutralization assay	more complex biological lab test, the only method to functionally test antibodies for their ability to hinder infection of cells by SARS-CoV-2