- A small Northern
California town is one of the first communities to attempt to test every one of its residents for COVID-19. - Two residents — a biotech entrepreneur and a venture capitalist — used their connections to form a partnership with UCSF researchers to conduct testing for every person in the town of Bolinas.
- The testing is part of a study to help UCSF researchers learn how the virus spreads through rural communities.
- Resident and gaming company
Zynga founder Mark Pincus also poured $100,000 into the project. - It's one of the latest examples of how those with the deepest pockets are faring differently than the rest of the world during the COVID-19 global crisis and amid a national shortage of test kits.
- Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
The small, rural northern California town of Bolinas is attempting to test every one of its 1,600 residents for COVID-19 for free in what is one of the first cases of community-wide testing in the US.
The testing wasn't covered by government funds. Instead, the town's residents pooled together personal resources to enable the large-scale testing. Three residents, in particular, had a lot to do with getting the project over the finish line.
Finnish entrepreneur Jyri Engeström, who's behind the San Francisco-based early-stage venture capital firm Yes VC, and biotech executive Cyrus Harmon are both Bolinas residents and connected over a shared desire to test everyone in town. Harmon, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, leveraged existing connections to folks at UCSF, which led to the partnership with infectious disease experts at the university to conduct the community-wide testing.
Equipment, tents, and other supplies were also needed. Engeström set a GoFundMe campaign in motion that raked in $300,000 in pledges from 150 donors. And fellow resident Mark Pincus, the founder of gaming company Zynga, poured $100,000 into the study to help fund the testing.
The privately funded, community-wide testing project comes as other wealthy US communities are working to accomplish similar endeavors amid a national shortage of COVID-19 test kits, showcasing how the deep-pocketed are faring much differently than the rest of the world during the pandemic.
According to the Chronicle, town residents are aware that their testing was enabled by the wealth and influence of some among them, but they believe this kind of testing should be available to everyone.
On Monday, drive-thru test sites were set up in the town, which sits about 30 miles north of San Francisco, to conduct both diagnostic and antibody tests on residents, many of whom are older than 60. Both tests are crucial to pinpointing how the virus spreads, which is key to eventually safely reopening cities across the country.
The town is located in Marin County, a Bay Area county known for its wealthy residents. Bolinas is specifically known for those seeking exclusivity — it's blocked in by water on three sides. It's the perfect environment to help the UCSF researchers learn how the disease spreads through rural communities.
To preserve supplies for those on the front lines of the healthcare system, testing organizers sourced masks from paint shops and hardware stores. They turned to a different type of swab to avoid using those that are used in hospitals. UCSF has also developed its own test kits, which have been of use in the Bolinas testing study.
It's not mandatory for residents to get tested, but researchers and organizers are aiming to make the testing as accessible to people as they can. There are currently no confirmed cases of the virus in the town, and Dr. Anna O'Malley with the nonprofit Coastal Health Alliance told the Chronicle that she doesn't expect many positive cases to turn up.
On Tuesday alone, 487 people were tested, according to The Guardian. The testing will wrap up on Thursday.
A similar project is slated for San Francisco's Mission District in the coming days in which researchers hope to learn how the virus spreads through urban environments.
Read the original article on Business Insider