PONE-D-20-26648

Prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 in an area of unrestricted viral circulation: mass seroepidemiological screening in Castiglione d’Adda, Italy

PLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Gabriele Pagani,

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PLOS ONE

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"This study was realized thanks to non-conditioning financial contributions from: CISOM (Corpo Italiano di Soccorso dell'Ordine di Malta, https://www.cisom.org), FC Internazionale Milano (https://www.inter.it/), SFD s.p.a/Fondazione SAME (https://fondazionesame.it/), Emporio Armani Olimpia Milano (http://www.olimpiamilano.com/) through donations to the Dipartimento di Scienze Biomediche e Cliniche (DIBIC) of the University of Milan and to Banca Mediolanum (https://www.bancamediolanum.it/) through donation to ASST Fatebenefratelli-Sacco, Milano.

Mylan Italia s.p.a. donated the rapid tests.

The donations were used to cover the expenses related to personal protective equipments, materials, laboratory processing and personnel costs.

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We note that you received funding from a commercial source: , FC Internazionale Milano, Emporio Armani Olimpia Milano

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Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

Reviewer #1: Partly

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2. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: No

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3. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.

Reviewer #1: No

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4. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.

Reviewer #1: Yes

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5. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #1: Minor issues

Write up is pretty easy read and understandable, however, please note some Syntax issues

For examples:

Vocabulary _ A different word could be used instead of diffusion that might make more sense in this context

Long Sentences_ 3rd paragraph; “Recently, lateral…..

Spelling _ “seferely” should be severely.

Technical:

Please explain why 2 different tests to run NPSs and note the differences between the two, including their sensitivity/specificity ratings.

Missing several necessary elements, including information on sample storage (temperature, location, etc.), average time intervals between sample collection and processing, and sample destruction procedures after processing was complete. Were samples given a unique identifier for blinding the study and perhaps privacy?

The reason for not measure the BMI of people under the age of 19 – This may got to Discussion.

Results:

I had to dig through the paper to find out how many people were tested for the different tests/kits. For example, on page 10, last paragraph, the authors state that 1330 people were tested using the NPS method. On page 11, under Diagnostic accuracy, the authors note that 562 subjects were selected for the CLIA serological tests and PCR.

Also, please explain well if one person might have been randomly selected for more than one test. This should be addressed in the methods section as well.

Tables design- Gender (Female) issue is confusing; how about the male data?

“The strong association observed between” should include statistical data for clarity.

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If you choose “no”, your identity will remain anonymous but your review may still be made public.

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Reviewer #1: No

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Prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 in an area of unrestricted viral circulation: mass seroepidemiological screening in Castiglione d’Adda, Italy

PONE-D-20-26648R1

Dear Dr. Gabriele Pagani,

We’re pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been judged scientifically suitable for publication and will be formally accepted for publication once it meets all outstanding technical requirements.

Within one week, you’ll receive an e-mail detailing the required amendments. When these have been addressed, you’ll receive a formal acceptance letter and your manuscript will be scheduled for publication.

An invoice for payment will follow shortly after the formal acceptance. To ensure an efficient process, please log into Editorial Manager at http://www.editorialmanager.com/pone/, click the 'Update My Information' link at the top of the page, and double check that your user information is up-to-date. If you have any billing related questions, please contact our Author Billing department directly at authorbilling@plos.org.

If your institution or institutions have a press office, please notify them about your upcoming paper to help maximize its impact. If they’ll be preparing press materials, please inform our press team as soon as possible -- no later than 48 hours after receiving the formal acceptance. Your manuscript will remain under strict press embargo until 2 pm Eastern Time on the date of publication. For more information, please contact onepress@plos.org.

Kind regards,

Daniela Flavia Hozbor

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Additional Editor Comments (optional):

Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. If the authors have adequately addressed your comments raised in a previous round of review and you feel that this manuscript is now acceptable for publication, you may indicate that here to bypass the “Comments to the Author” section, enter your conflict of interest statement in the “Confidential to Editor” section, and submit your "Accept" recommendation.

Reviewer #1: All comments have been addressed

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2. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

Reviewer #1: Yes

**********

3. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: Yes

**********

4. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.

Reviewer #1: Yes

**********

5. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.

Reviewer #1: Yes

**********

6. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #1: (No Response)

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7. PLOS authors have the option to publish the peer review history of their article (what does this mean?). If published, this will include your full peer review and any attached files.

If you choose “no”, your identity will remain anonymous but your review may still be made public.

Do you want your identity to be public for this peer review? For information about this choice, including consent withdrawal, please see our Privacy Policy.

Reviewer #1: No