PONE-D-21-27586Evaluation of the Abbott BinaxNOW™ COVID-19 Test Ag Card for rapid detection of SARS-CoV-2 infection by a local public health district with a rural populationPLOS ONE

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Additional Editor Comments:

All reviewers evaluated that the manuscript was appropriate for publication and I agree with their opinion. A few comments should be addressed still remained then please respond them.

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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: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

Reviewer #3: Yes

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

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: I Don't Know

Reviewer #3: Yes

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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: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

Reviewer #3: Yes

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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

Reviewer #2: Yes

Reviewer #3: 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: I have no comments on the submitted manuscript "Evaluation of the Abbott BinaxNOW™ COVID-19 Test Ag Card for rapid detection of SARS-CoV-2 infection by a local public health district with a rural population"

Reviewer #2: The study describes the performance of the BinaxNOW Ag Card for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 virus antigen in clinical samples. The manuscript is well-structured and readily understandable, and the authors conclusions that are drawn from the presented data are plausible. The results are discussed from several perspectives and integrated into current knowledge about the BinaxNow test performance. However, discussing the BinaxNOW test performance with that of other rapid test products would add further value to the manuscript.

In ll270ff the authors state that, due to the high specifity of the BinaxNOW test, positive test results may require confirmation by RT-PCR. I do not understand why, please explain. A positive result of a high specificity test should be ok?

Other points:

� Due to the diverse test princriples in point of care testing, the precise format (lateral flow assay?) would be helpful

� Beginning with citation #10, the numbering is flawed. Please correct

� Tables 2+3: <total identified="" variants=""> is somewhat misleading, you could consider to choose another term (e.g. <total identified="" viruses=""> or just <total>)

� Is the information in Table 3 relevant for the interpretation or discussion of study results?

� Tables 4+5: in the text 25 concordant samples are described, in Tables 4+5 only 24 samples are listed</total></total></total>

Reviewer #3: This is a very well written paper. I fully appreciate that authors fully document the limitations of both the study and the rapid test. These limitations in no way affect the importance to public health in the presentation of these data to the public.

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Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: No

Reviewer #3: No

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Evaluation of the Abbott BinaxNOW™ COVID-19 Test Ag Card for rapid detection of SARS-CoV-2 infection by a local public health district with a rural population

PONE-D-21-27586R1

Dear Dr. Pollreis,

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.

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Kind regards,

Shinya Tsuzuki, MD, MSc

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 #2: 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 #2: Yes

**********

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

Reviewer #2: I Don't Know

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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 #2: Yes

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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 #2: 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 #2: In the revised version of the manuscript the data still is presented very clearly and discussed in a balanced way. All reviewer comments were answered and/or worked into the manuscript. However, table numbering needs to be checked (tables 4 and 5 are now tables 3 and 4 ?)

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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 #2: No