On Jun. 16, 2020, the All of Us Research Program, part of the National Institutes of Health, announced that it is leveraging its significant and diverse participant base to seek new insights into COVID-19ﾗthrough antibody testing, a survey on the pandemicﾒs impacts and collection of electronic health record information.

All of Us will make data gathered through these activities broadly accessible to approved researchers over time, in future releases of its data platform, the Researcher Workbench(link is external), now in beta testing. Analyses may help reveal the origins of entry, spread and impact of COVID-19 in the United States.

All of Us will test blood samples from 10,000 or more participants who joined the program most recently, starting with samples from March 2020 and working backward until positive tests are no longer found. The tests will show the prevalence of novel coronavirus exposure among All of Us participants, and help researchers assess varying rates across regions and communities.

Study collaborators include the Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research, supported by the National Cancer Institute; the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases; the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; and Quest Diagnostics.

Antibody testing, which uses blood samples, is different than the nasal swab tests health care providers commonly use to detect active infection. Antibody tests are generally done with people who do not currently have symptoms, to find out if they had the virus in the past.

The program will look for a certain kind of antibody produced in response to infection, IgG antibodies, using a test approved for emergency use by the Food and Drug Administration. Positive samples will potentially undergo further testing to determine if the positive finding is due to the new coronavirus specifically and to assess the level of the immune system’s response.

In addition to antibody testing, All of Us has deployed a new online survey to better understand the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on participants’ physical and mental health. This 20- to 30-minute survey is designed both for participants who have been ill with COVID-19 and those who have not, and includes questions on COVID-19 symptoms, stress, social distancing and economic impacts.