10,000 Wanted For At-Home Coronavirus Testing Study In Boston Area
BOSTON (CBS) - Researchers have launched a large, at-home coronavirus testing study in the Boston area that they hope will give them an early warning if there's another surge.
The TestBoston study from Brigham and Women's Hospital and the Broad Institute is looking for 10,000 people to take part in the six-month project.
They're trying to find active coronavirus cases and evidence of previous infection within a 45-mile radius of Boston.
Participants will be sent monthly at-home test kits for viral and antibody testing. Only Brigham patients are eligible and the results will be shared with the state.
"So we are looking to enroll 10,000 participants to be able to do 10,000 tests in one month and then serially do surveillance testing on that same group of individuals over the subsequent five months so we then have six months of testing to be able to look at both their antibody tests as well as their viral tests," Dr. Ann Wooley, an infectious disease specialist at the Brigham, told WBZ-TV.
"The study will also help clinicians learn more about whether prior infection provides any protection against subsequent re-infection," the team said in a statement Tuesday.
If there's a second surge of cases in the Boston area, the researchers hope their home-based sample collection can be used on a larger scale to improve access to testing and identify cases.
For more information on the study and enrollment, click here.
