Oregon is in the baby steps of implementing testing and tracing procedures:
Right now, we are managing the pandemic mostly looking in the rearview mirror. We need to be looking forward, and that’s what this study will help allow.”
www.oregonlive.com
Researchers from Oregon State University are embarking on a “groundbreaking” effort to identify how widespread the coronavirus is in Corvallis, especially in those who might not have symptoms of the virus, campus officials announced this week.
The project, called “Team-based Rapid Assessment of Community-Level Coronavirus Epidemics,” or TRACE-COVID-19 for short, will get underway this weekend and run through May 16 with a goal of testing nearly 1,000 Corvallis residents, said Ben Dalziel, an assistant professor in the university’s College of Science.
“Testing nationally and locally has been focused on those with symptoms, but it’s likely that some people who carry the virus display no symptoms, and they may have been inadvertently involved in spreading the disease without having known that they had the virus,” Dalziel said in a statement.
Trained field staff will fan out across Corvallis, visiting homes that were randomly selected to provide a representative sample of the city’s population of more than 58,000. Residents will be invited to participate and, if they do, researchers will provide them with a short questionnaire and test kit which they can self-administer inside their home.
In case you are wondering, yes, I'd participate in this program if I lived in the area and were asked. When the program comes to my area, I'll participate.
So, finally, Oregon will take on the task of broad-based testing in a way that makes systematic sense. Once we get through an initial survey of Corvallis, we will know enough to expand the program into areas of the state that want similar testing. From there, policy decisions can be made that go beyond the "I want my cheeseburger" mentality. This science-based methodical approach will be used to monitor the situation as we gradually and safely lift closure orders.