Implementation of a Rural Community Diagnostic Testing Strategy for SARS-CoV-2 in Upstate South Carolina
By developing a partnership amongst a public university lab, local city government officials and community healthcare providers, we established a drive-through COVID-19 testing site aiming to improve access to SARS-CoV-2 testing in rural Upstate South Carolina. We collected information on symptoms a...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2022-04-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Public Health |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2022.858421/full |
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| author | Emily V. Plumb Rachel E. Ham Justin M. Napolitano Justin M. Napolitano Kylie L. King Kylie L. King Theodore J. Swann Corey A. Kalbaugh Lior Rennert Delphine Dean Delphine Dean |
| author_facet | Emily V. Plumb Rachel E. Ham Justin M. Napolitano Justin M. Napolitano Kylie L. King Kylie L. King Theodore J. Swann Corey A. Kalbaugh Lior Rennert Delphine Dean Delphine Dean |
| author_sort | Emily V. Plumb |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | By developing a partnership amongst a public university lab, local city government officials and community healthcare providers, we established a drive-through COVID-19 testing site aiming to improve access to SARS-CoV-2 testing in rural Upstate South Carolina. We collected information on symptoms and known exposures of individuals seeking testing to determine the number of pre- or asymptomatic individuals. We completed 71,102 SARS-CoV-2 tests in the community between December 2020-December 2021 and reported 91.49% of results within 24 h. We successfully identified 5,244 positive tests; 73.36% of these tests originated from individuals who did not report symptoms. Finally, we identified high transmission levels during two major surges and compared test positivity rates of the local and regional communities. Importantly, the local community had significantly lower test positivity rates than the regional community throughout 2021 (p < 0.001). While both communities reached peak case load and test positivity near the same time, the local community returned to moderate transmission as indicated by positivity 4 weeks before the regional community. Our university lab facilitated easy testing with fast turnaround times, which encouraged voluntary testing and helped identify a large number of non-symptomatic cases. Finding the balance of simplicity, accessibility, and community trust was vital to the success of our widespread community testing program for SARS-CoV-2. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-13T02:32:41Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-083b5e3c6daa4fd49be273eb34987851 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2296-2565 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-13T02:32:41Z |
| publishDate | 2022-04-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Public Health |
| spelling | doaj.art-083b5e3c6daa4fd49be273eb349878512022-12-22T03:06:29ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Public Health2296-25652022-04-011010.3389/fpubh.2022.858421858421Implementation of a Rural Community Diagnostic Testing Strategy for SARS-CoV-2 in Upstate South CarolinaEmily V. Plumb0Rachel E. Ham1Justin M. Napolitano2Justin M. Napolitano3Kylie L. King4Kylie L. King5Theodore J. Swann6Corey A. Kalbaugh7Lior Rennert8Delphine Dean9Delphine Dean10Research and Education in Disease Diagnosis and Intervention (REDDI) Lab, Center for Innovative Medical Devices and Sensors, Clemson University, Clemson, SC, United StatesResearch and Education in Disease Diagnosis and Intervention (REDDI) Lab, Center for Innovative Medical Devices and Sensors, Clemson University, Clemson, SC, United StatesResearch and Education in Disease Diagnosis and Intervention (REDDI) Lab, Center for Innovative Medical Devices and Sensors, Clemson University, Clemson, SC, United StatesDepartment of Bioengineering, Clemson University, Clemson, SC, United StatesResearch and Education in Disease Diagnosis and Intervention (REDDI) Lab, Center for Innovative Medical Devices and Sensors, Clemson University, Clemson, SC, United StatesDepartment of Bioengineering, Clemson University, Clemson, SC, United StatesSwann Medicine, Clemson, SC, United StatesDepartment of Public Health Sciences, Clemson University, Clemson, SC, United StatesDepartment of Public Health Sciences, Clemson University, Clemson, SC, United StatesResearch and Education in Disease Diagnosis and Intervention (REDDI) Lab, Center for Innovative Medical Devices and Sensors, Clemson University, Clemson, SC, United StatesDepartment of Bioengineering, Clemson University, Clemson, SC, United StatesBy developing a partnership amongst a public university lab, local city government officials and community healthcare providers, we established a drive-through COVID-19 testing site aiming to improve access to SARS-CoV-2 testing in rural Upstate South Carolina. We collected information on symptoms and known exposures of individuals seeking testing to determine the number of pre- or asymptomatic individuals. We completed 71,102 SARS-CoV-2 tests in the community between December 2020-December 2021 and reported 91.49% of results within 24 h. We successfully identified 5,244 positive tests; 73.36% of these tests originated from individuals who did not report symptoms. Finally, we identified high transmission levels during two major surges and compared test positivity rates of the local and regional communities. Importantly, the local community had significantly lower test positivity rates than the regional community throughout 2021 (p < 0.001). While both communities reached peak case load and test positivity near the same time, the local community returned to moderate transmission as indicated by positivity 4 weeks before the regional community. Our university lab facilitated easy testing with fast turnaround times, which encouraged voluntary testing and helped identify a large number of non-symptomatic cases. Finding the balance of simplicity, accessibility, and community trust was vital to the success of our widespread community testing program for SARS-CoV-2.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2022.858421/fullSARS-CoV-2COVID-19surveillanceruralcommunity healthsaliva testing |
| spellingShingle | Emily V. Plumb Rachel E. Ham Justin M. Napolitano Justin M. Napolitano Kylie L. King Kylie L. King Theodore J. Swann Corey A. Kalbaugh Lior Rennert Delphine Dean Delphine Dean Implementation of a Rural Community Diagnostic Testing Strategy for SARS-CoV-2 in Upstate South Carolina Frontiers in Public Health SARS-CoV-2 COVID-19 surveillance rural community health saliva testing |
| title | Implementation of a Rural Community Diagnostic Testing Strategy for SARS-CoV-2 in Upstate South Carolina |
| title_full | Implementation of a Rural Community Diagnostic Testing Strategy for SARS-CoV-2 in Upstate South Carolina |
| title_fullStr | Implementation of a Rural Community Diagnostic Testing Strategy for SARS-CoV-2 in Upstate South Carolina |
| title_full_unstemmed | Implementation of a Rural Community Diagnostic Testing Strategy for SARS-CoV-2 in Upstate South Carolina |
| title_short | Implementation of a Rural Community Diagnostic Testing Strategy for SARS-CoV-2 in Upstate South Carolina |
| title_sort | implementation of a rural community diagnostic testing strategy for sars cov 2 in upstate south carolina |
| topic | SARS-CoV-2 COVID-19 surveillance rural community health saliva testing |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2022.858421/full |
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