The present methods comprise initial administration of a first rapid test, such as rapid antigen test, that has a low likelihood of false positive results and a known likelihood of false negative results, alone or in conjunction with other rapid tests, to identify a first subpopulation of positives, to which an infection mitigation protocol (such as quarantine or the administration of a therapeutic treatment) is administered. Negatives are recorded and provisionally released from further study. A diagnostic test is then administered to this subpopulation, to identify the portion of this first subpopulation that were false positives in the first test. Ideally, a positive result for the diagnostic test is pathognomonic for the infection. Any infection mitigation protocol (such as quarantine) may then be discontinued for those testing negative in the first population and intensified for those testing positive, such as with contact tracing or other protocols, to identify all true positives and those they may have infected within the population.