MINNEAPOLIS – The state Health Department and the federal Centers for Disease Control plan to conduct a statewide survey of 1,200 households beginning September 14 to understand how COVID-19 transmission differs among regions in Minnesota. Three-person field teams will focus on southern and northeast counties and the Twin Cities metro area. The Health Department will choose households at random and then ask for volunteer participation. Each team will have a nurse to take a nasal swab and a drop of blood to see if COVID-19 is present. Each person in the household will be asked to complete a questionnaire. Anyone may decline. The project is the largest attempt in Minnesota to assess that level of mystery coronavirus spread, mostly through seroprevalence testing of blood to see if people had antibodies indicating an immune system response to the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.
How it works
Households identified randomly for the survey will not be notified jn advance. Survey teams will ring doorbells and knock to ask households to participate. Team members will wear masks and vests with name tags that identify them as members of a CASPER team. Their vehicles will have magnets on the side that say: COVID-19 Survey Team.