Safer working spaces at coronavirus time: A novel use of antibody tests

Abstract

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has transformed the way that the world functions. Health issues and population safety have driven countries' economies to a critical state; therefore, sustaining economic activity while keeping workers safe has become a worldwide goal. In this paper, we present a novel safety protocol based on rapid antibody testing (ABT). Using discrete event simulation, we evaluated its performance on the cumulative number of infected workers, effective reproductive number ($R_e$), and active work force within a company. Using a synthetic experiment, we showed that ABT twice a week (ABT 3) performed the best, detecting 5.7% of infected workers, compared to 16.9% when no ABT was applied. $R_e$ was reduced from 1.75 to 0.84, with a slight decrease in the active workers within the firm. A sensitivity analysis on the duration of the shedding period and sensitivity of ABT was performed and led to the same qualitative conclusions. We applied this protocol in a Chilean winery: the estimation of the initial $R_e$ of 1.3 was reduced to 0.7 when the ABT 3 protocol was implemented, with a 27% decrease in the number of infected workers. Although ABT is not approved for COVID-19 diagnosis, our study shows that upgraded safety standards can already be implemented in workspaces.