Researchers are hoping to understand the coronavirus better and how truly prevalent it has been in communities through a new survey.
They say they need more people from eastern Washington, however, to complete that work.
The Washington Coronavirus Exposure survey is measuring the prevalence of COVID-19 in the state, and is a partnership between the Washington State Department of Health and the University of Washington.
Dawn Hennig, a research nurse with UW Medicine, says they need 400 volunteers from Spokane County and 300 volunteers from Pend Oreille County.
“We want everybody, whether you're vaccinated, you're unvaccinated, if you've had Covid, you haven't had Covid, if you don't know if you've had Covid or not," she said. "If you were really sick last year, and you’re thinking, I wonder if that was Covid but my rapid test was negative, join the survey, we'll tell you if it was Covid or not."
Researchers will do a nose swab to look for a current infection and will look at blood samples for antibodies in people’s blood.
Anyone between the ages of 18 to 85 is eligible and researchers hope to enroll 700 people locally and 8,000 statewide.
People who participate will get gift cards and they can sign up here.
