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USF to start pool testing study

The feasibility study will start the week of Aug. 10 and will explore the accuracy and viability of pool testing COVID-19 swabs.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Pool testing could be coming to the University of South Florida.

In a joint effort, USF Health is starting a feasibility study the week of Aug. 10 to test the accuracy and viability of pool testing COVID-19 swabs.

“This has a great advantage because you can do much more widespread testing overall, for a much cheaper cost and much more efficiently," explained Dr. Kevin Sneed, Dean of the Taneja College of Pharmacy at USF Health.

Instead of processing each swab on it’s own, people are grouped together. If the test is negative, everyone in the group is negative. If it’s positive. Then each person needs to be tested on their own. Overall the process is faster.  

“Right now when you hear people say they have to wait 7, 10, or more days to get a result back," explained Dr. Sneed.  "That doesn't really lend to the type of contact tracing that we need to do.”

Sneed believes pool testing results could be turned around much faster, “If we get this process down the right way, if we get it done the right way, we're going to have a result back in about no more than 24 hours, and it could be same day.”

USF has been thinking about pool testing since April. Sneed believes that running the study on their campus will help, “One of the most important things is really defining who your pool is, on defining who that community is. So you can go back and do repeated testing in that in that community or that group of people.”

For now, the study will focus on helping students, but Sneed's hope is to eventually expand it. “I think it would be a great opportunity learn how to do it effectively. And possibly, you know, I have a dream that we could possibly go out and do more in the community." 

Just over a month ago, federal coronavirus response coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx visited Tampa Bay to urge USF Health, Tampa General, and other local healthcare systems to start investigating pool testing.

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