Back in March, the University moved to allowing only critical research activities during the COVID-19 pandemic. At that time, any lab-based research activity that did not meet the definition of critical and that could not be conducted remotely was suspended or limited to maintenance of infrastructure. The result was that lab-based activities were reduced to about 25 percent of normal capacity.
On June 1, the university resumed lab-based activities to about 50 percent capacity. Since returning to campus, all researchers have been asked to check for symptoms on a daily basis using the COVID-19 screening checklist and to adhere to the operational guidelines for increasing research capacity provided by the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and implemented by the research deans across campus. Those guidelines remain in place, and it is critical that those who experience COVID-19 symptoms do not come to campus.
It is important to be mindful of the elements required to keep our community safe while on campus:
- Wear a face covering.
- Regularly wash hands and surfaces.
- Keep a distance of at least 6 feet from other people.
With funding from the North Carolina Policy Collaboratory, our office has launched an employee and trainee return-to-work surveillance project. The purpose of this study is to determine whether preventative measures that have been implemented on campus are effective at reducing the spread of SARS-CoV-2 in the research community. This information will inform the continuation of safe research activity on campus.
Using the research community at Carolina as a cohort, the project will conduct asymptomatic testing and contact tracing of SARS-CoV-2-positive individuals to monitor disease outbreak and prevent virus transmission. Participants will have access to regular research tests for SARS-CoV-2 infection and referral for FDA-approved confirmatory testing as part of this study.
The research team conducting the study includes Audrey Pettifore and Allison Aiello (Epidemiology), Arlene Seña, (Infectious Disease), Dirk Dittmer (Microbiology and Immunology), Corbin Jones (Biology), and Ashok Krishnamurthy (RENCI/Computer Science).
This study is a research protocol, which means voluntary participation and IRB approval are required. Members of the research population who are on campus at least one day a week and who are interested in participating can register on the studyʼs webpage.
The project is designed to:
- understand the effectiveness of testing asymptomatic people and contact tracing to reduce the transmission of the virus in the university research community;
- determine incidence of infection in asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic individuals in a phased return-to-work strategy;
- determine prevalence of people of who have been exposed to SARS-CoV-2 and longevity of immune response through antibody testing; and
- test and assess new technologies and compare them to existing technology. This includes assessing a high throughput, inexpensive antibody testing assay developed by Carolina researchers.
We are committed to a safe environment for our researchers. If you have any questions, the email box vcr@unc.edu is monitored daily to provide information.