Subject: Help us learn about the coronavirus
Message:
Are you worried that you or your family might get coronavirus infection (called COVID-19)?
Are you someone who wants to be of service during a global emergency?
Consider taking part in an important and timely research study at Rutgers.
Researchers at Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences are studying the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in people who work at Rutgers and affiliated hospitals. We want to learn about the spread of COVID-19 in our Rutgers community and what factors are driving this spread. The knowledge gained from this study will help us understand how to reduce the spread of COVID-19, particularly among healthcare workers.
This study will include people from the Rutgers community at large and also people who work with patients at either Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital or University Hospital Newark.
If you have already tested positive for the novel coronavirus or been diagnosed with COVID-19, you will not be eligible to take part.
This study will include:
- A questionnaire about yourself, your health, and your health behaviors
- Nasal/throat swabs and bloodwork obtained over several months
- Recording of your temperature and symptoms over time
Participants who test positive for the coronavirus during the study will be promptly notified. Some participants who test positive for the coronavirus, and some participants who test negative, will be asked to invite others in their household take part in the study.
You will be reimbursed for your time taking part in this study.
No experimental treatments for COVID-19 will be given as part of this study, but participants may be eligible for future studies of experimental treatments or vaccines against the virus.
Your privacy and confidentiality is of the utmost importance and will be preserved throughout the study.
For more information about this study, to see if you are eligible, and to sign up, please click here, on either of the following links below.
https://redcap.rwjms.rutgers.edu/surveys/?s=D4DRTRJPKM
Let’s act together as a community, and quickly, to help understand and fight COVID-19 in our community and in the world.
Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Martin J. Blaser, MD
Director, Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine
Co-Principal Investigator
Jeffrey L. Carson, MD
RBHS Provost, New Brunswick
Co-Principal Investigator
Reynold A. Panettieri, Jr., MD
Director, Rutgers Institute for Translational Medicine & Science
Co-Principal Investigator
On behalf of the Rutgers Corona Cohort Study Team