Citigroup Inc (C)

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Citigroup study: Will rapid home tests keep New York traders, Chicago bank tellers on the job?
By: Ken Alltucker | March 10, 2021

Citigroup Inc. has joined a study to evaluate whether frequent and rapid at-home COVID-19 tests for about 6,000 employees can help the banking conglomerate reduce virus transmission among workers.

The study could provide evidence on whether at-home rapid testing helps large workplaces safely reopen, one year after the pandemic shut down large employers and sent workers home to work remotely.

The Citigroup study, led by Harvard epidemiologist and rapid testing advocate Dr. Michael Mina, will monitor employees who use Innova's rapid test at home every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

Employees will use an app to report results and also answer health screening questions on Tuesdays and Thursdays when they are not tested. Those who test positive will stay home and results will be confirmed with a polymerase chain reaction, or PCR, test, which are considered more sensitive.

About 1,000 Citigroup employees at Chicago-area branches and traders in New York are now regularly testing themselves at home. The study will enroll about 6,000 employees and last four months.

Innova's rapid antigen test that has yet to gain authorization from the Food and Drug Administration but is the primary tool for United Kingdom's mass testing program. The test is used in tandem with the Bella Health app, created by the artificial intelligence company LivePerson.

The study will evaluate whether rapid testing can prevent workplace infections by identifying people who have the virus but show no symptoms. When the tests inform such workers about their positive status, they stay home to prevent spreading the virus to coworkers.

The study also will measure how well people use the mobile app and whether it allows them to test appropriately and effectively, Mina said.

He expects the study will provide businesses, schools and colleges who are considering mass testing programs a roadmap that whether rapid testing used with an app works.

Although there is optimism that widespread vaccinations can help curb the spread of COVID-19, Mina predicts cases will again surge in the fall with coronavirus variants.

"I want to see us in a much better position overall to be able to use modern technology to help curb spread of pandemic viruses today and in the future," Mina said.

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