Baylor Scott & White Health Joins CDC-Funded “RECOVER” Research Study of Pandemic COVID-19’s Effect on Healthcare Workers, First Responders, and Essential Workers

For more information about this study, click here.

TEMPLE, Texas – As COVID-19 pandemic illness or disease caused by the SARS-Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection continues to spread, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) needs more data on the SARS-CoV-2's rates of infection and reinfection, risk and protective factors, and the difference between infected symptomatic and asymptomatic individuals. The CDC also needs to understand the effectiveness of emerging COVID-19 and influenza vaccines.

Manjusha Gaglani, MD, director of the Center for Research in Vaccines and Infections at Baylor Scott & White Medical Center – Temple, has joined a team led by Abt Associates to help the CDC collect this information from healthcare workers, first responders, and essential workers—people on the frontline who are likely to be the first to receive a vaccine.

The project, the Research on the Epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2 in Essential Response Personnel (RECOVER), is a prospective, longitudinal cohort study of approximately 3,000 public/colleague-facing full-time workers at six sites. Baylor Scott & White Medical Center – Temple is seeking to enroll a total of 540 workers based on age, sex and occupational category.

The two primary objectives are determining the frequency of symptomatic and asymptomatic COVID-19 infection and the frequency of COVID-19 reinfections among personnel who test positive or have prior confirmation of COVID-19 infection.

The RECOVER study is still looking for healthcare workers, first responders, and essential workers to join the study who are 18 years of age or older, have direct contact with patients/public/coworkers as part of their routine full-time job, and have access to the internet and a phone with text messaging capabilities. Participation will include weekly surveillance consisting of short surveys and at home COVID-19 tests for up to one year. There will be a few surveys to understand COVID-19 history, risk, and exposure; relevant data may also be collected through Electronic Medical Records, if available. At least 3 blood draws will be completed during the first year to test for antibodies to understand correlates of protection against re-infection.

The study has a certificate of confidentiality. All participants will only be identified by a unique study ID, and contact information will only be accessible by local study staff. Data shared with the sponsors or designees will remain separate from any personal identifier records to maintain participant confidentiality.

The study is being conducted at Baylor Scott & White Health in Temple, Bell County, Central Texas; Kaiser Permanente Northwest in Portland, Oregon; St. Luke's Hospital in Duluth, Minnesota; the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona; the University of Miami in Miami, Florida; and the University of Utah and Intermountain Healthcare in Salt Lake City, Utah.

If you would like to participate, please contact RECOVER study staff at HCP@BSWHealth.org
or 254-724-8193

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MEDIA CONTACT:
Tiya Searcy
Tiya.Searcy@BSWHealth.org

About Baylor Scott & White Health
As the largest not-for-profit health system in the state of Texas, Baylor Scott & White promotes the health and well-being of every individual, family and community it serves. It is committed to making quality care more accessible, convenient and affordable through its integrated delivery network, which includes the Baylor Scott & White Health Plan, Baylor Scott & White Research Institute, the Baylor Scott & White Quality Alliance and its leading digital health platform — MyBSWHealth. Through 52 hospitals and more than 1,300 access points, including flagship academic medical centers in Dallas, Fort Worth and Temple, the system offers the full continuum of care, from primary to award-winning specialty care. Founded as a Christian ministry of healing more than a century ago, Baylor Scott & White today serves more than three million Texans. For more information, visit: BSWHealth.com