The University of Oregon, Oregon State University and Lane County Public Health are partnering to bring OSU’s community testing strategy to Eugene, according to representatives during LCPH’s COVID-19 press conference Thursday.
TRACE Community Eugene will occur on Nov. 7 and 8. Steven Clark, OSU’s vice president of university relations and marketing, said 30 teams will work in 30 neighborhoods in the Eugene area. Trained students from UO and OSU, researchers and health professionals randomly select houses in neighborhoods, going door-to-door and asking for voluntary COVID-19 test samples from residents, Clark said. The testing is designed to provide prevalence estimates within Oregon communities, he said.
The testing strategy hopes to gather “as many as 600 samples” in those two days, he said. The teams will work in accordance with guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration, Oregon Health Authority and LCPH.
The teams are tested for COVID-19 before going door-to-door, Clark said. The voluntary testing is administered individually, he said, while the teams stand outside the home. Those who consent to testing will receive their results in five to 10 days, he said. TRACE Community testing will communicate positive test results to the individual privately, as well as LCPH and OHA.
To compliment the two days of randomized testing, he said, TRACE will conduct wastewater testing in Springfield and Eugene.
OSU began conducting TRACE Community testing in April 2020, according to OSU’s website. It has conducted the testing in Corvallis, Newport, Bend and Hermiston, Clark said.
PacificSource Health Plan, a Pacific Northwest insurance company, is funding the initiative, he said, so the testing is free for community members. Clark urged citizens to participate in TRACE Community testing because it gives people a chance to do something about the spread of the coronavirus. It also helps not only inform people of their own health, but of the health of their community, he said.
