An adaptive testing strategy for efficient utilization of healthcare resources during an epidemic.

ABSTRACT: Lockdowns are found to be effective against rapidly spreading epidemics like COVID-19. Two downsides to strategies rooted in social distancing and lockdowns are that they adversely affect the economy and prolong the duration of the epidemic. The extended duration observed in these strategies is often due to the under-utilization of medical facilities. Even though an under-utilized health care system is preferred over an overwhelmed one, an alternate strategy could be to maintain medical facilities close to their capacity, with a factor of safety. We explore the practicality of this alternate mitigation strategy and show that it can be achieved by varying the testing rate. We present an algorithm to calculate the number of tests per day to maintain medical facilities close to their capacity

SUBMITTER: Balakrishnan S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10245284 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature