To better address and track the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, the American Lung Association has announced a partnership with Northwestern University and University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) to engage adults in real-time, smartphone-based data collection as part of a COVID-19 Citizen Science (CCS) effort initiated by UCSF. CCS aims to attract a critical mass of participants around the world in order to uncover scientifically significant trends about the current coronavirus pandemic.
Anyone 18 years of age or older can download the free and secure app for enrollment. The app prompts participants each day to answer a few routine questions about COVID-19 exposure and potentially related symptoms. Collectively, these data could help researchers gain insight into how the virus is spreading in hopes of reducing future infections.
In a statement, Mark Pletcher, M.D., MPH, professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics and the director of informatics and research innovation at the UCSF Clinical and Translational Science Institute, said, “We really need help from people out there in the community. If enough people are willing to share data, we can follow the spread of COVID-19 to ultimately identify ways to predict and decrease the number of new infections.”
The Lung Association’s involvement with CCS is the newest part of its multi-tiered response to this lung health pandemic. Earlier this month, the organization announced its COVID-19 Action Initiative committing $25 million to address COVID-19 and other emerging respiratory viruses. Among its efforts will be:
• Expanding COVID-19 research within the current studies of the Airways Clinical Research Centers (ACRC) Network;
• Funding Coronavirus Awards and Grants for preventive research, vaccines, antivirals and to advance future outbreak preparedness; and
• Providing ACRC pilot grants to evaluate the effect of COVID-19 on patients with chronic lung disease.
For more information about the COVID-19 Citizen Science study, as well as to access the app and enroll, visit Lung.org/citizen-science.
