Enrollment for this study has now closed. Daily questionnaires for enrolled participants will continue through October 31, 2021, after which only occasional longer surveys will be administered for the rest of 2021. We will continue to update the webpage with information for current participants. Publications from this study are highlighted below.
Thank you for your interest in learning more about this study. Researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS) partnered with the public to better understand the spread of COVID-19 in your community.
We recruited study participants to complete brief daily online questionnaires. The questionnaires were sent to participants by email or text message from Oracle, one of our study partners. The questionnaires asked participants about any symptoms they had related to COVID-19, possible exposures to COVID-19 and health care visits due to the disease. Participants also had the option to participate in antibody testing.
The study was available to any interested members of the general public aged 18 years and older, living in Maryland or the surrounding states.
Questions? Study staff are available to answer your questions about this research study and can be reached by phone at 443-457-3548 or via email at covid19-rx@som.umaryland.edu from 9am -5pm, Monday-Friday.
This research study is coming to a close and as of October 31, 2021, you will no longer receive the daily online questionnaire. You may still receive the occasional request from us to complete one of the additional longer surveys through to the end of 2021.
We wish to extend a huge THANK YOU to every single one of our participants. Without you this project would not have been possible! As we begin to finalize publications, we invite you to take a look at those which have already been published (see section below).
Thank you to all our participants in continuing the fight against COVID-19.
We wish to extend a special thank you and CONGRATULATIONS to everyone who completed their daily survey every day! Keep completing your daily survey to have a chance of winning in the next raffle draw!
University of Maryland School of Medicine and MedStar Health Research Institute hosted a virtual Town Hall on June 14th in celebration and gratitude for our study participants!
Over 400 people attended the Town Hall. During the event, study researchers provided study updates, answered participant questions about COVID-19, current safety practices, and the vaccine. Study participants also shared their experiences of being in the study.
If you missed this special event, you can watch the full program at https://youtu.be/DrlBJ8uB3n8. You can also view slides here: COVID-19 Community Research Partnership Town Hall Presentation June 2021
Research studies are designed to gain scientific knowledge that may help people in the future.
As you are aware, the coronavirus pandemic is a public health emergency. By understanding the spread of the virus, who is at greatest risk and the conditions that put people at risk, researchers can help the medical community develop strategies to fight it. The goal of this study was to collect information about the community’s COVID-19 exposures, symptoms, and health care visits due to the disease. The study also collected information on the use of personal protective equipment for participants who were healthcare workers.
As the study comes to a close, we have turned our focus to analyzing the data and communicating our findings to other scientists and the general public. Please find the below links to all peer reviewed publications along with a brief summary of the key points.
Mini surveys were sent to participants after the Thanksgiving and Winter Holidays. These surveys collected information about behaviors during these holidays. The results showed that non-household members were present at 47% of Thanksgiving gatherings and 69% of Winter holiday gatherings. Most people did not fully follow recommended public health safety behaviors (mask wearing, staying outside, or getting a COVID-19 test prior) when attending holiday gatherings. These holiday gatherings and lack of following guidelines could have contributed to the well documented post-holiday surge in COVID-19 cases.
In December/January a survey was sent to participants asking about their intent to get the vaccine. Seventy-six percent of respondents indicated that they intended to get the vaccine. Based on reported intent to get vaccinated, the current vaccination rates as of May 15, 2021 are:
The most cited reason for not answering yes to the vaccine intent question was concerns over safety (although we note that COVID-19 vaccines have been proven to be safe in adults and teens in multiple large clinical trials and monitoring of people who received the vaccine after authorization). Among the CRP North Carolina participants, the initial responses to the survey did not correlate with their eventual vaccination rate.
Your body will make different antibodies in response to natural SARS-CoV-2 infection than in response to COVID-19 vaccination. To better understand the spread of COVID-19 and the uptake of vaccination in the community, all participants who test positive for antibodies via EuroImmun LabCorp Testing are tested a second time using Roche LabCorp Testing to determine if their body’s response is due to exposure to the natural virus or vaccination. Interpretation of the results of these antibody tests can be found in the table below. Please note that the results of these tests should not be used to change your behavior. We encourage you to continue to follow guidance from the CDC and your physician concerning the best ways to prevent and manage COVID-19.
“-“ = negative test result“+” = positive test result
“Inconclusive” = the test result was not positive or negative. There may have been technical difficulties with the test kit.
“Not Applicable” = the Roche test (second test) is not performed if the EuroImmun (first test) test is negative or inconclusive.
EuroImmun: this test looks for spike protein antibody; spike protein is on the virus and is an important component of all COVID-19 vaccines.
Roche: this test looks for nucleocapsid antibody; nucleocapsid is not in any U.S. authorized COVID-19 vaccines.
Natural Infection
Vaccination
Daily surveys will end on October 31, 2021. We will still send an occasional longer survey through the end of the year. If you believe you are missing an email reminder, please check your spam or junk folder. If you have checked your spam folder and still have not found an email, study staff are available to answer your questions about this research study and can be reached by phone at 443-457-3548 or via email at covid19-rx@som.umaryland.edu from 9am -5pm, Monday-Friday.
Questions? Study staff are available to answer your questions about this research study and can be reached by phone at 443-457-3548 or via email at covid19-rx@som.umaryland.edu from 9am -5pm, Monday-Friday.
We want to thank all our dedicated study participants and give you all the opportunity to win rewards by completing your daily survey updates!
We will be raffling off gift cards for study participants who complete their daily surveys. Here’s how it works:
Maximize your chances of winning by completing your daily survey every day. Any days missed due to Oracle outages will not be counted against your daily participation. You will be entered into the raffle prize draw every week and/or month that you are eligible.
Winners will be contacted via email or phone. Weekly winners will be notified each week. Monthly grand prize winners will be notified each month. The last raffles will occur the first week in November corresponding with the end of the daily surveys.
This study is part of the COVID-19 Community Research Partnership. We are working together with the following partners:
Together we are working to fight COVID-19. Check out our national website at http://covid19communitystudy.org/
Our goal was to enroll a representative sample of participants from Maryland and the surrounding states and in particular we wanted to enroll racial and ethnic minority groups as these groups have been seriously impacted by COVID-19. The data below reflects study participation since we began enrollment in late January 2021.
Study enrollment
More than 5,590 participants enrolled in the study and together they have completed more than 414,775 daily questionnaires.
Most commonly reported symptoms
A total of 1,350 participants have reported experiencing at least one COVID-like symptom since their enrollment in the study. The most frequently reported symptoms so far have been fatigue, muscle pain, and congestion or runny nose. The graphic below shows all symptoms and the total number of days they have been reported.
