LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Indiana plans to test a broad swath of Hoosiers for COVID-19 and its antibodies, an ambitious study meant to gauge the true reach of the illness across the state.
The work is being led by the Fairbanks School of Public Health at Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis and will begin random testing on Saturday, state officials said at a briefing Thursday.
The study is a “critical step toward understanding how COVID-19 has affected the population of Indiana,” said Nir Menachemi, chair of health policy and management at the Fairbanks School of Public Health.
And he said a true count of infections -- including those with mild symptoms -- is not widely available in any state.
"By being one of the first states, we will get a head start in understanding the epidemic's true trajectory, identify and address disparities and be able to make wiser decisions on how to deploy our limited resources," Menachemi said.
Thus far, he said, state testing has focused on sick patients or those in group settings like nursing homes, along with health care and other front-line workers who show symptoms.
“Because these tests focused on sick and high-risk individuals, we lack an understanding of how many people in our state have been infected, especially if they were not formally tested or had no symptoms,” Menachemi said.
Study leaders said they already have begun contacting Hoosiers who were randomly selected for tests based on tax records. The testing will involve a nasal swab to check for active COVID-19 infections and drawing blood to detect antibodies or proteins that indicate a person has had the illness.
Using that approach, Menachemi said researchers will learn the proportion of asymptomatic people who are infected and those who already had the virus.
Researchers plan to collect "multiple waves" of data months apart, letting them understand how the disease is progressing in Indiana. During each phases, Menachemi said, 5,000-7,000 Hoosiers will be tested.
Dr. Kristina Box, Indiana’s health commissioner, said the goal is to reflect the state’s racial, ethnic and geographical makeup and urged Hoosiers to participate if they’re contacted.
“We believe this data will better inform our plans to safely re-open our state and to determine what ‘new normal’ mode of operation really looks like,” she said.
Indiana announced Thursday that 612 more Hoosiers have tested positive for COVID-19, taking the state's total number of infections to 13,039.
The state health department also reported 45 new deaths. In all, 706 residents have died from complications from the respiratory illness since the first documented case occurred in March.
The deaths occurred between April 6 and Wednesday, according to the data.
Indiana positive COVID-19 cases per day (source: Indiana State Department of Health)
In Floyd County, where the local health department confirmed more than 50 infections in a Diversicare nursing home on Wednesday, the number of new infections rose by 3, to 152. Nine people in Floyd County have died from COVID-19, data show.
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