How many people are infected? A case study on SARS-CoV-2 prevalence in Austria

Gabriel Ziegler

Papers from arXiv.org

Abstract: Using recent data from voluntary mass testing, I provide credible bounds on prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 for Austrian counties in early December 2020. When estimating prevalence, a natural missing data problem arises: no test results are generated for non-tested people. In addition, tests are not perfectly predictive for the underlying infection. This is particularly relevant for mass SARS-CoV-2 testing as these are conducted with rapid Antigen tests, which are known to be somewhat imprecise. Using insights from the literature on partial identification, I propose a framework addressing both issues at once. I use the framework to study differing selection assumptions for the Austrian data. Whereas weak monotone selection assumptions provide limited identification power, reasonably stronger assumptions reduce the uncertainty on prevalence significantly.

Date: 2020-12
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