Up to a thousand local volunteers will be tested next week to learn more about the exact spread of COVID-19 in Vanderburgh County.
Not wanting to rely on only statewide COVID-19 testing, a coalition of local government, health care and businesses is launching a study of its own. Researchers at Deaconess and the IU School of Medicine-Evansville will conduct both the swab test and blood tests on volunteers selected at random from the community. The testing is scheduled to start Monday and is expected to last five days.
Dr. Steven Becker is the director of the IU Med School-Evansville. He says the study was created and approved at lightning speed in research terms.
Becker said, “In reality over the past two and a half to three weeks, we started out with an idea, we determined that we could do that here, and in a lot of ways we’ll be leading this kind of research, certainly for a regional area within the country.”
Evansville Mayor Lloyd Winnecke says because it is a scientifically valid study, the Reopen Evansville task force will use the data to help guide recovery decisions for the city.
