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Updated: Aug 25, 2025
Efficient SARS-CoV-2 Quantitative Reverse Transcriptase PCR Saliva Diagnostic Strategy utilizing Open-Source Pipetting Robots
Published on: February 11, 2022
A Rapid Nucleic Acid Amplification Test-Based, Conditional Release-to-Work Policy for Health Care Personnel With
Mark A Jacobson1, Colin Hart, Will Huen
1From the Division of Occupational Medicine, University of California San Francisco School of Medicine, San Francisco, California (Dr Jacobson, Dr Blanc); Division of HIV, Infectious Diseases, and Global Medicine, University of California San Francisco School of Medicine, San Francisco, California (Dr Jacobson); Department of Public Health, San Francisco, California (Mr Hart, Ms Suarez Guardado, Ms Villanueva); Department of Medicine, University of California San Francisco School of Medicine, San Francisco, California (Dr Huen); Department of Laboratory Medicine, University of California San Francisco School of Medicine, San Francisco, California (Dr Whitman).
Objective:
Most health care personnel (HCP) reporting symptoms consistent with COVID-19 illness are assessed by high-accuracy SARS-CoV-2 assays performed in clinical laboratories, but the results of such assays typically are not available until the following day.
Methods:
This is an observational study over 16 weeks of a rapid nucleic acid amplification test (NAAT) performed at point of contact. The benchmark for comparison was a simultaneously obtained specimen assayed by a routine NAAT assay performed in a clinical laboratory.
Results:
There were 577 paired rapid and routine NAAT results. Rapid test positive predictive value was 90.0% (95% confidence interval = 88.8%-91.2%), and negative predictive value was 95.2% (95% confidence interval = 93.5%-96.9%). The rapid test avoided an estimated 160 to 184 lost work shifts over 4 months.
Conclusions:
A rapid NAAT test-based strategy proved effective in safely clearing symptomatic employees without infection for earlier return to work.
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