- Project Leaders: Christopher Lowe, Zabrina Brumme
- Institutions: Simon Fraser University (SFU)
- Budget: $101000
- Competition: Rapid Response Funding for COVID-19 Research Projects
- Genome Centre(s): Genome British Columbia
- Fiscal Year: 2020
- Status: Active
There is an urgent need to quickly and accurately identify cases of COVID-19 as people with the illness need to quarantine themselves in order to stop the spread of the virus. Current COVID-19 tests detect viral RNA using a tool called PCR, however, from past experience it is known that PCR can occasionally yield false-negative results when virus levels in a sample are low. Providing COVID-19 patients with false-negative results has important public health implications as they may continue to spread the illness believing they are not contagious. This work will apply an established modified-PCR method with significantly improved sensitivity to evaluate the currently used COVID tests. Uncovering any gaps in identifying positive cases this way will be valuable in helping to inform clinical management practices.