Written in collaboration with the St. Louis County Department of Public Health
At least one out of every 100 St. Louis County adult residents had an active COVID-19 infection earlier this fall, while about five out of every 100 adults had contracted the disease at some earlier point, according to test results of a representative sample of county residents.
Working with the county, the Institute for Public Health teamed with other local public health and health-care providers to conduct a phone survey of a representative sample of St. Louis County residents. Participants were offered free COVID-19 testing at convenient locations across the county, regardless of whether they had symptoms. They could choose to receive diagnostic testing to detect active COVID-19 infection or antibody testing to detect previous infection. Transportation to and from testing sites was provided free of charge to those who needed it.
Read the news release published on the St. Louis County Department of Public Health website, Nov. 23, 2020.
St. Louis County Executive Dr. Sam Page announced the project results at his morning news conference on Nov. 23rd and was joined by Dr. Elvin Geng, professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Washington University School of Medicine. Watch it here.
Read the story in St. Louis Magazine. Watch coverage by KMOV-TV, KTVI-TV and KSDK-TV. Listen to Dr. Elvin Geng’s interview on KWMU-FM (NPR).
Additional analysis of the survey results is being conducted and will be announced soon.
Media Contacts:
Christopher Ave
Director of Communications
St. Louis County Department of Public Health
cave@stlouisco.com
314-323-4561
Caroline Arbanas
Assistant Director, Medical Public Affairs
Office of Medical Public Affairs
Washington University School of Medicine
arbanasc@wustl.edu
314-286-0109