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Comment
. 2021 May;115(3):203-207.
doi: 10.1080/20477724.2021.1878444. Epub 2021 Mar 9.

Can reasoned mass testing impact covid-19 outcomes in wide community contexts? An evidence-based opinion

Antonio Cassone  1 , Andrea Crisanti  2
Affiliations
Comment

Can reasoned mass testing impact covid-19 outcomes in wide community contexts? An evidence-based opinion

Antonio Cassone et al. Pathog Glob Health. 2021 May.

Abstract

We describe the early phases of a COVID-19 epidemic in two contiguous Italian regions, Lombardy and Veneto, which were heavily and simultaneously hit by SARS-CoV-2 in Italy but showed markedly different disease outcome in terms of case fatality rate, SARS-CoV-2-attributable mortality and hospitalization. We discuss data limitations together with similarities and differences of the regional context possibly affecting COVID-19 control in the two regions. We conclude that the better COVID-19 outcome in Veneto was due, at least in part, to the adoption of a strategy of active search of asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infections (Reasoned Mass Testing), instead of a strategy strictly based on the detection of symptomatic cases.

Keywords: SARS-CoV-2 Mass testing; case Fatality Rate; covid-19; lombardy; mortality; veneto.

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Conflict of interest statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Figures

Figure 1..
Figure 1..
CFR (left panel) and COVID-19-attributable mortality (right panel) over the first wave of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in Lombardy and Veneto. CFR 95% Confidence intervals are shown in Supplementary Table 1
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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