Implementing Pool-Based Surveillance Testing for SARS-CoV-2 at the Army Public Health Center Laboratory and across...

With limited clinical resources, burgeoning testing requests from Army and other Service units to clinical laboratories, and the continued spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) throughout the military population, the Army Public Health Laboratory (APHL) Enterprise was tasked to establish surveillance testing capabilities for active duty military populations in an expedient manner. Following a proof-of-concept study conducted by Public Health Command-Pacific, Public Health Command-Europe was the first public health laboratory to offer the capability to assess for SARS-CoV-2 in pooled samples, followed closely by the Army Public Health Center (APHC) at Aberdeen Proving Grounds, MD, paralleling the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus from China to Europe to the continental US. The APHLs have selected pool sizes of up to 10 samples per pool based on the best evidence available at the time of method development and validation. Real-Time quantitative Reverse Transcriptase-Polymerase Chain Reaction (qRT-PCR) assays using RNA extracts from pooled nasopharyngeal swabs preserved in viral transport media were selected to assess the presence of SARS-CoV-2. The rapid development of initial surveillance testing capabilities depended on existing equipment in each laboratory, with a plan to implement full operational capability using additional staff and common high-throughput platforms. APHL Enterprise has successfully used existing resources to begin to address the changing and complex needs for COVID-19 testing within the Army population. Successful implementation of pooled surveillance testing at the APHC Laboratory has enabled more than 8,600 Soldiers to avoid clinical testing to date. The APHC Laboratory alone has tested over 10,000 samples and prevented approximately 8,600 soldiers from seeking testing with clinical diagnostic assays.