COVID-19 antibody survey launches
UTHealth and the Texas health department have launched one of the nation’s largest COVID-19 antibody surveys, an assessment of the disease’s true prevalence around the state.
The survey, which follows by a month one focused solely on Houston, hopes to enroll roughly 100,000 individuals to determine the proportion of people in the state who’ve been infected with the coronavirus, based on the presence of antibodies. The immune system makes such antibodies to fight infections.
“The important thing is that Texas is a big, heterogeneous state for which you need a large study like this to see the pandemic’s texture,” said Eric Boerwinkle, dean of public health at the UTHealth School. “It’ll show the frequency of those with immunity and those still susceptible and it’ll show how those numbers change over time.”
The plans call for the creation of an online portal providing data by county. Boerwinkle said he hopes it is up and running by January.
Antibody testing is considered important because diagnostic testing captures a small percentage of the total number of people infected with the virus. Antibody testing will provide snapshots of that information at different points in time — and guide how communities can focus additional diagnostic testing and contact tracing.
The survey, which began enrolling participants in late Sep
tember, involves a brief survey and three blood draws, occurring several months apart. It will focus on four groups: employees whose job puts them in contact with the public; children 5 to 17 years of age; teachers; and people in underserved communities.
Preliminary data from the survey’s first few weeks show 18.2 percent of Texans already participating have antibodies against the virus. Boerwinkle said it’s too early to read much into that figure.
The Houston survey, a partnership between the city and Baylor College of Medicine, calls for two rounds, each recruiting roughly 700 people. The second round will start in early 2021.
The Houston survey involves officials making house calls to participants, randomly selected in Census block groups. The state survey involves recruiting people in the four groups, who will then give blood at either a federally qualified health center or a private company (Clinical Pathology Laboratories) site.
The state survey will include the Houston area, but not “oversample” large urban areas, Boerwinkle said. In all, blood draws can be taken at 650 state sites.
People who have tested positive, negative or have never been tested for COVID-19 are eligible to enroll, which will investigate how long immunity lasts and why some individuals infected with the virus don’t have symptoms and whether that affects their antibody response. People with active COVID-19 should not try to enroll until their symptoms have subsided and they are no longer under quarantine.
“I’m asked all the time about how a person can help in this fight against COVID-19,” Boerwinkle said in a statement. “Well, participating in this survey is one way all Texans can help.”