Demand creation for testing and Covid-19 surveillance indicators in the Covid-19 Testing, Isolation, Quarantine, and Telemonitoring Study

ABSTRACT OBJECTIVE: To analyze the demand creation strategies for Covid-19 testing and to describe surveillance indicators for testing, quarantine, contact tracing, and telemonitoring in primary health care services. METHODS: This cross-sectional study used data from the Covid-19 Testing, Isolation, Quarantine, and Telemonitoring (TQT Covid-19) study, conducted from July 2022 to July 2023. Primary healthcare service units in Rio de Janeiro and Salvador were selected to apply an intervention to develop demand creation strategies for testing uptake. Demand creation strategies were grouped into online strategies, traditional means, primary health care service units, community, and active search. Logistic regression was performed to determine the characteristics of the population reached by each strategy. The following Covid-19 surveillance indicators were estimated for testing and prevention (testing rate, positivity rate, monthly incidence, and full vaccination rate); for telemonitoring (monitoring rate, severity, referrals, and mortality); for quarantine (quarantine conditions); and for contact tracing (proportion of contacts traced and refusals of testing). RESULTS: The intervention reached 12,401 individuals, and 11,843 tests were performed. Demand creation strategies that reached more individuals for testing were primary health care service units (37.0%) and active search (25.9%). The positivity rate during the study period was 27.2% in Salvador and 11.5% in Rio de Janeiro. A total of 14.1% of cases were monitored, and most were asymptomatic (42.5%) or mild (52.3%). No deaths were reported among monitored cases. The proportion of fully vaccinated individuals was 91.8%. Contact tracing identified 25.1% of reported contacts, and 41.5% declined testing. CONCLUSIONS: The intervention facilitated expanded testing. Primary health care service units and active search were the strategies that reached more individuals for testing. Telemonitoring and contact tracing were the most challenging components to implement in primary health care services units and, given their importance, should be strengthened for future pandemics. These findings underscore the relevance of surveillance for assessing public health measures, identifying gaps, and supporting data-driven decision-making to improve epidemic management.