Nearly three years into the pandemic, COVID-19 precautions such as mask mandates and proof of vaccination requirements have largely gone away. But for the 7 million people across the country who are immunocompromised, the risk is still just as high.
Ben Street is one of those people. At age 18, he received a kidney transplant and takes immuno-suppressive medication.
“I mask up still, probably one of the only few people who masks up in the grocery store,” he said. “I’ve had COVID and it was not fun. So, I can empathize with a lot of people like myself who feel that the world has moved on because there are extra steps and precautions that we have to take every day.”
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The 31-year-old could be a candidate for a new study by Scripps Research and healthcare technology company Cue Health. They're looking for 10,000 immunocompromised people to participate in the study, which is all done online. It involves taking several at-home tests each month to try and catch the infection early and prevent patients from getting to the point of needing emergency care. Participants would also have access to on-demand telemedicine and the quick delivery of anti-viral medication like Paxlovid.
It’s all part of an effort to reduce COVID-19 hospitalization rates among our most vulnerable groups, which researchers say are getting left behind.
“The study really came out of a drive to try to help that group. We can't have them feel less left behind in the pandemic,” Scripps Research Program Director, Dr. Julia Vogel said. “To show them that we understand the risk that they're still facing and see if there's a way that we can help to lower that risk.”
Dr. Vogel said 20% of everyone that gets infected with COVID-19 will end up in a hospital, and with new variants circulating, it’s even more important to protect the most high-risk.
That includes people like Street, who said studies like this give him hope.
“These things are critically important for people like myself because we don’t really have any defense against anything,” he said. “We walk among you, and we have to deal with medical issues that are often chronic and unseen. So, I appreciate it.”
Researchers are still in the recruitment phase of the study. For more information, click here.
