Symptoms of COVID-19 may endure for months after infection, even in people who initially experienced mild illness. This is the conclusion put forth by a collaborative team of researchers from Helix, Renown Health, and the Desert Research Institute after analyzing survey data from more than 21,000 individuals, 233 of which report having tested positive for COVID-19.

In a recent study, researchers from an international consortium used genetic data alongside survey responses to gain insight into how our DNA may affect our vulnerability to the SARS-CoV-2 virus (the virus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic).

Here, we describe how the use of COVID-19 screening and the combined use of screening results for surveillance can be an effective way to manage COVID-19 outbreaks under various conditions based on epidemiological modeling.

Weekly testing enables rapid suppression of outbreaks even with widespread community transmission. Control of outbreaks through social distancing and surveillance testing lead to further reductions in testing frequency.

Data from Helix’s research community is helping scientists around the world, including a recent finding published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Our team of researchers are currently working through the data, but we have already found some interesting insights in our collection of survey responses, and we’ve contributed our findings to a worldwide research effort, consisting of renowned scientists from around the globe. These results, described below, highlight the power of population health studies and the impact of sharing information early and often.

Helix researchers, along with collaborators from Renown Health and UC San Diego, found that, relative to nasopharyngeal swabs, the sensitivity of saliva was approximately 30% lower in a community-based diagnostic cohort and 50% lower in a convalescent cohort

Over the next several days, Helix researchers will be reaching out to hundreds of thousands of people—each of them having already had their DNA sequenced by Helix—with a short survey. The survey collects information about a person’s possible exposure to COVID-19, any symptoms (or lack thereof) that they may be experiencing, and any medications they  … Read more

Helix researchers to leverage user input and exome-sequencing data to understand COVID-19 risk and severity The spread of the novel SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus has led to the unfolding COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to demonstrating a high degree of transmissibility, a significant barrier to the treatment and containment of this virus has been the variability in symptoms  … Read more

Our analysis suggests that variants in the ACE2 gene–particularly those in the regions that interact with the SARs-COV-2 virus–have the potential to show important associations with COVID-19 susceptibility and resistance.