Launching a saliva-based SARS-CoV-2 surveillance testing program on a university campus
Alexander J. Ehrenberg, Erica A. Moehle, Cara E. Brook, Andrew H. Doudna Cate, Lea B. Witkowsky, Rohan Sachdeva, Ariana Hirsh, Kerrie Barry, Jennifer Hamilton, Enrique Lin-Shiao, Shana L. McDevitt, Luis E. Valentin-Alvarado, Kaitlyn N. Letourneau, Lauren A. Hunter, Amanda Keller, Kathleen Pestal, Phillip A. Frankino, Andrew Murley, Divya Nandakumar, Elizabeth C. Stahl, Connor A. Tsuchida, Holly K. Gildea, Andrew G. Murdock, Megan L. Hochstrasser, Elizabeth O’Brien, Alison Ciling, Alexandra Tsitsiklis, Kurtresha Worden, Claire Dugast‐Darzacq, Stephanie G. Hays, Colin Barber, E. Riley McGarrigle, Emily K.Y. Lam, David C. Ensminger, Lucie Bardet, Carolyn Sherry, Anna Harte, Guy Nicolette, Petros Giannikopoulos, Dirk Hockemeyer, Maya L. Petersen, Fyodor D. Urnov, Bradley R. Ringeisen, Mike Boots, Jennifer A. Doudna
Abstract
Regular surveillance testing of asymptomatic individuals for SARS-CoV-2 has been center to SARS-CoV-2 outbreak prevention on college and university campuses. Here we describe the voluntary saliva testing program instituted at the University of California, Berkeley during an early period of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in 2020. The program was administered as a research study ahead of clinical implementation, enabling us to launch surveillance testing while continuing to optimize the assay. Results of both the testing protocol itself and the study participants' experience show how the program succeeded in providing routine, robust testing capable of contributing to outbreak prevention within a campus community and offer strategies for encouraging participation and a sense of civic responsibility.