TRACE-COVID-19, the groundbreaking Oregon State University project to determine community prevalence of the novel coronavirus, expanded to include two days of sampling in Newport on June 20-21.
The addition of Newport to the study follows the positive tests of more than 120 workers at Pacific Seafood, which operates five processing facilities in the city.
In Newport, the TRACE-COVID-19 project included the collaboration of OSU’s Hatfield Marine Science Center, the OSU Extension Service and the OSU College of Public Health and Human Sciences, which assists local health officials with contact tracing for any positive tests that might result from the TRACE sampling. TRACE-COVID-19 stands for Team-based Rapid Assessment of Community-Level Coronavirus Epidemics.
Oregon State’s work in Newport will complement other sampling, testing and contact tracing assistance being given by health officials from Tillamook and Clatsop counties.
“Being true to the rapid designation and purpose of TRACE, we are pleased to be able to nimbly and rapidly respond to help inform the Lincoln County response to this acute COVID-19 outbreak,” said Javier Nieto, dean of OSU’s College of Public Health and Human Sciences and one of the TRACE-COVID-19 project’s principal research investigators.
“Additional data is critical to plan and adapt to this pandemic and any future health crisis that our coastal communities may face,” said Kaety Jacobson, chair of the Lincoln County Board of Commissioners. “OSU has always been a trusted partner, and this is another great example of that partnership working to address our community needs.”
