This diagnostic study describes an online tool created with actual severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) virus copy number data to help policy makers understand how pooled testing compares with single-sample testing in different populations.

Pooled testing can extend SARS-CoV-2 test supplies and increase the number of patients tested and cases detected, making it useful for population screening and resource-constrained settings. The complicated workflow, lower sensitivity for low-VCN patients, and need to repeat tests for positive pools are drawbacks.

Sequential 2-stage pooling could reduce the burden of retesting from positive large pools (see Additional Information at the end of the article for the 2-stage COVID19 Pool Tool URL).

The lack of clinical data for laboratory samples is a potential limitation of this study.

This tool offers policy makers an easy to use tool to inform regional and national decision-making about the pros and cons of pooled testing.

This diagnostic study was approved with a waiver of consent and Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act authorization by the Duke Health institutional review board as part of retrospective SARS-CoV-2 test method comparison and validation studies.

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