Employees who are the most likely to contract the coronavirus, from first responders to bank tellers, are being recruited to take a free weekly COVID-19 test at home to help researchers at the University of Arizona study the virus. 

There’s little involved in participating but much at stake, said Professor Jefferey Burgess, Associate Dean for Research in the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health.

“All of these essential employees — health care workers, first responders, corrections officers and other essential workers — work with either patients, the public or closely with each other, and therefore, if they’re infected, they need to know so they can protect their patients, their co-workers, the public and their families,” said Burgess.

First study to test all workers who deal with public  

The testing is part of the Arizona Healthcare, Emergency Response, and Other Essential Workers Surveillance () project. It is funded with a $7.7 million grant from the Centers for Disease Control and is in conjunction with the university’s statewide .

It is the largest CDC study of its kind with a target of 4,000 participants statewide, Burgess said, and the first to focus on all essential employees, not just first responders and healthcare workers. 

Project seeks to better understand immunity and reinfection

The goal is to better understand immunity and reinfection, Burgess said.

“We know a lot more than we used to but not answers to some very important questions like, if you get it once, will you get it again? And if you do, will it be the same as, worse or less severe than the first time?” he said. “We also want to know how long the duration of immunity lasts from when you get it the first time to when you get it the second time.”

Among the project goals are to monitor how COVID-19 is impacting companies and help employers find the best protocols to reduce the spread. 

Employees who have tested positive or negative wanted

Essential employees who have tested either positive or negative for COVID-19 are encouraged to participate. Test results will be kept private, but any employees who test positive are encouraged to alert their employer and take appropriate precautions. 

Those who are accepted will do free at-home testing with nasal swabs once a week for nine months. They also will be given three antibody tests during that time.  

Call to businesses statewide 

Project officials are calling on businesses to inform employees about the project. Speakers are also available to make presentations to work groups. 

For anyone interested in participating there are three options to contact the project:

• Online at
• Through email AZHeroes@arizona.edu 
• By phone at (520) 848-4026

Employees who work with the public in these professions are needed for the study:

• Health care 
• First responders including corrections officers  
• Food service, agriculture  
• Public and other transportation services  
• Solid waste collection  
• Warehouse and delivery 
• Utilities  
• Government and community-based services 
• Childcare 
• Group homes, day programs and disability programs 
• IT professionals 
• Environmental services, facilities managers
• Educators
• Front-line financial workers like bank tellers
• Hospitality 

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Two months ago, Arizona and the rest of the country were mired in a backlog of hundreds of thousands of COVID-19 tests. 

Test results were taking weeks to process and laboratories and government officials were facing public criticism.

In Arizona, Dave Dexter, the president and CEO of Sonora Quest Laboratories, the largest diagnostic lab in the state, attended a meeting with state public health officials who asked for what seemed like the “impossible”: The production of 60,000 COVID-19 tests a day.

“I had no idea how we could possibly get to 60,000 a day, so I went home and had what I call one of my white wine nights in my career — this is my 21st year as CEO and I have the battle scars to prove it,” said Dexter, who to 91ֱ�� about the company’s sprint to place Arizona at the forefront of testing in the nation. “But through those experiences, I’ve learned there’s always a solution and you just have to keep your brain open to different possibilities.”

“Operation Catapult” was launched 

That night Dexter devised Operation Catapult to make it happen. 

Within 48 hours, he pulled together a $10 million deal with a “verbal handshake” with several partners including Banner Health, the largest hospital chain in the state, EuroImmun, a world leader in manufacturing medical diagnostic equipment, the Arizona Department of Health Services (DHS), and others. 

Everyone began working 24/7 to increase production of tests, said Dexter, who also serves as general manager of Quest Diagnostics, the world’s leading provider of diagnostic information services. Sonora Quest and its partners launched into a massive effort to purchase equipment, set up manufacturing lines and supply chains, hire 215 new employees, and take other measures to ramp up production of tests and test results. 

Arizona capacity now exceeds demand  

Within days, Sonora Quest had eliminated a 65,000-test backlog. By Aug. 4, its COVID-19 testing capacity exceeded demand, the only lab in the U.S. able to be able to make that claim, company officials said.

And as of Monday, it was providing test results for both antibody and COVID-19 tests within 48 hours, they said. 

With new manufacturing lines being put in place, Sonora Quest is on target to produce 60,000 tests a day by the end of August or soon after. That will help position the state for virus surges in the fall, Dexter said. 

“We’ll make Arizona one of the most productive testing states — bar none — in the country,” he said.

Employer solutions 

As testing stabilizes, Dexter is preparing to meet new milestones. 

One is the launch of a new Employer Solutions to help companies bring back employees safely. Among the services offered to employers will be: 

-Streamlined lab ordering

-Mobile diagnostic services for on-site testing and testing of homebound patients

-Greater access to testing statewide 

Next on the list: contact tracing, daily testing at nursing homes 

Dexter also wants to work with agencies that do contact tracing to help slow the spread of the virus. Contact tracing involves locating all of the people who have been in contact with a patient who tests positive for the virus so they can be quarantined if needed. 

Daily testing at skilled nursing facilities is another goal Dexter is advocating for. Earlier this year, Sonora Quest worked with the Arizona Department of Health Service to get residents and staff tested at all 147 skilled nursing facilities. More needs to be done, he said.  

“I have a passion for long term care and I think it’s underserved in many ways,” he said.

Dexter said he and his team are waiting on guidance from state agencies and Banner Health to 

prioritize specific groups for testing, particularly for residents at long term care facilities, assisted living and other places where highly vulnerable citizens live. 

Finally, the question of education looms as another challenge, Dexter said. How to provide some form of testing for teachers and students, even if it involves targeting specific groups that are more at risk of spreading the virus. 

“Whatever it takes in this pandemic, we have to find a way to serve all Arizonans.”  

About Sonora Quest Laboratories

Sonora Quest, an independently run joint venture between Banner Health and Quest Diagnostics, is the nation’s largest integrated laboratory system with approximately 3,500 employees serving more than 26,000 patients every day across Arizona. Unlike national diagnostic laboratories, it provides a continuum of care for all sectors of the healthcare industry. As the market share leader in clinical laboratory testing in Arizona, it performs nearly 90 million diagnostic tests per year. 

To view its daily testing data, visit: .

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Executives from three of the world’s largest biopharmaceutical research and manufacturing companies said Wednesday that they are racing hand-in-hand to get a viable vaccine for COVID-19 out to the world by next year. 

They all said there has been “unprecedented” international cooperation to develop a vaccine. They also explained why it could come sooner than any other in history. 

“We want to have more than one vaccine. We want to have several vaccines that are approved so there are options and there are opportunities for everyone around the world to get vaccinated,” said Joaquin Duato, vice chairman of the Executive Committee for Johnson & Johnson. 

Duato was joined by the chairman and CEO of Pfizer, Albert Bourla, and the CEO of Sanofi, Paul Hudson, who spoke during a virtual town hall Wednesday to update the world on their progress. 

The forum was hosted by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), which represents America’s leading biopharmaceutical research companies.

Of the 1,227 active clinical trials underway to fight the coronavirus, almost half — 47 percent — are using PhRMA member products, said Stephen Ubl, president and chief executive of PhRMA who moderated the event. Of those, there are in clinical trials and 135 vaccines in clinical studies. 

Optimism about having a vaccine by 2021

At the town hall, the executives said their companies are working “24/7” to find treatments and vaccines for the coronavirus. They’re moving to human clinical trials as early as this month. 

Everything has been moving at breakneck speed to find a solution, Hudson said. In a matter of months, the international community has mobilized an effort that normally would take 10 years.  

“We’re now going again to set new records in less than a year,” Hudson said.  

The executives are optimistic their companies can create a viable vaccine, or at the least, more treatments to aid patients’ recovery by next year. A number of therapies are promising including anticoagulants, fusion proteins and antibodies. 

In the meantime, the companies are preparing to or have submitted approval from regulatory agencies like the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) to manufacture hundreds of millions, and possibly billions of doses, ahead of time to prepare for the hope that one or more of the human clinical trials will succeed.     

They emphasized four key points:

Affordability for all

All three company executives stated emphatically that their mission is to put patients’ health first. That means the vaccine must be affordable and available for all, in both developed and developing nations. 

“We are committed to provide a vaccine for emergency pandemic use and on a not-for-profit basis to make sure price is not a barrier for anybody,’’ Duato said.

If patients and communities can be taken care of, then shareholder profits and economies will follow, he said. 

A vaccine can be developed more quickly today  

There are a number of factors helping their mission move at record speed, they said.

One is the unprecedented sharing of research and results. The industry is expanding and sharing vast global libraries to try to repurpose existing therapies and develop new ones.

“There are multiple vaccines out there. I wish success to all of them,” Bourla said. “This is not a competition among us. This is a competition against the virus.” 

New vaccine platform technologies is another reason companies are able to move at a faster pace. They can utilize the same building blocks to make different vaccines, and have proven particularly useful in vaccines that utilize genetic DNA and RNA. 

Finally, the government is also setting a precedent to speed up the process. The FDA released new June 30 to fast track treatments that are proven safe in trials. 

President Donald Trump’s newaims to deliver 300 million doses of a safe, effective vaccine by January as part of the strategy to accelerate the development, manufacturing, and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics. 

Major public and private agencies, as well as public funding, are contributing to the effort.  

Clinical trials to include adults, diverse groups 

As the companies begin human clinical trials this month, testing and development of a vaccine will pull from diverse populations for clinical trial participants, including people of color, the elderly and people with underlying conditions. Clinical trials are now signing up participants, both with and without the virus. 

Once a vaccine is approved, the FDA and other regulatory bodies will determine who receives it first. It likely will appear in batches to be distributed to front-line health care workers and those at highest risk including the elderly and people with underlying conditions.

Centuries of experience should pay off 

With hundreds of years of experience, a vast amount of resources between the three corporations, there is hope one can succeed.  

“We have a significant amount of resources in science and manufacturing,” Bourla said. “If we put it to work, we can find a solution. If not us, who?” 

Biopharma supports 120,000 high wage manufacturing jobs

In Arizona, the biopharma industry is a major contributor to the economy with an estimated annual impact of around $9.1 billion. Since 2000, member companies of PhRMA have invested more than half a trillion dollars in the search for new treatments and cures, including an estimated $58.8 billion in 2015 alone, according to PhRMA.

Across the U.S., the biopharmaceutical sector directly employs more than 854,000 Americans, and invests more than $90 billion in research and development every year — more than any other industry in America. 

Because of its large supply chain, the biopharmaceutical industry supports more than 4 million jobs across the U.S. 

It also is becoming a larger force in manufacturing, according to PhRMA.The industry supports nearly 120,000 high-wage manufacturing jobs. In 2017, wages for biopharmaceutical manufacturing jobs were 72 percent greater than the average wage for all U.S. manufacturing jobs.

To read more about PhRMA and its members, go to: .

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As COVID-19 cases are rising in the state, patients should not be afraid to seek medical care, said the head of the Health System Alliance of Arizona whose members are among the largest hospital systems and top employers in the state. 

“We are particularly concerned about folks who have diabetes, hypertension, underlying health conditions, that they might be scared to seek routine medical care and that there are others that may have acute medical needs, that they may be scared to obtain  medical care,” Jennifer Carusetta, director of the alliance, said Monday. 

Carusetta said that while coronavirus cases are posting high numbers right now, hospitals have the capacity to handle them.  

“I think it is really important to emphasize that protecting our patients’ health and safety is always our top priority. It was our top priority before the pandemic and it continues to be our top priority now,” Carusetta said.

The alliance represents five large hospital systems in Arizona: Banner Health, HonorHealth, Dignity Health, Tenet Healthcare and Northern Arizona Healthcare. 

Between them, they operate more than 80 acute hospitals and medical facilities in the state and employ more than 50,000 Arizonans. 

Uptick in cases was expected 

Hospital systems along with state officials have put measures in place over the last few months to prepare for expected surges in May and June, public health officials said Friday during a press conference about the recent spikes in cases. 

To avert a crisis, hospital and health officials are renewing their call to the public to double down on hand washing, face coverings and social distancing to keep the numbers in check. The healthcare system cannot do it alone. 

If capacity gets too low, hospitals are under emergency order to reduce elective surgery admissions to free up beds for COVID-19. 

A rise in was not unexpected, Dr. Cara Christ, director of the Arizona Department of Health Services (DHS) said at the Friday with Governor Doug Ducey. As of Monday, Arizona has had 27,678 cases with 1,047 deaths.

A number of factors are contributing including the lifting of the stay-at-home order on May 15, Christ said. 

Arizona is also in its sixth week of a statewide “testing blitz,” Gov. Ducey said. As of Monday, more than 402,000 COVID-19 tests and antibody tests had been conducted.

Included in that testing has been the state’s intense effort to test staff and patients at long term facilities statewide. DHS is on target to have all facilities tested by July 11, Christ said. 

Surge system in place to allow for quick transfer of patients

In April, the state DHS and hospital partners created the Arizona Surge Line to have the ability to quickly admit, transfer and discharge COVID-19 patients to appropriate levels of care should cases spike.

So far, the Surge Line service has assisted 583 hospital patients including transferring over 500 patients to an appropriate placement, Ducey said. 

Last week, the DHS also unveiled a new improved method for determining inpatient and ICU bed availability to better react to surges. The updated method is now posted in the section of the agency’s dashboard.

Hospitals using telehealth, new technology to adapt   

Hospitals have also adjusted the way they provide care, including increased sanitary measures, required screening for the coronavirus upon entry, and investments in virtual and other technology to protect patients and staff.

HonorHealth, for example, is one of a few hospital systems in the country that has over 30 germ-zapping robots. Made possible by donors, the small robots use high-intensity ultraviolet light to disinfect a patient room in just minutes.

To encourage social distancing, Dignity Health is offering anyone a free virtual care visit through the end of the month if they or a family member is exhibiting mild COVID-19 symptoms such as low-grade fever, cough, or difficulty breathing. Anyone can speak with a healthcare provider on their phone or device for free with an online .

Banner, one of the largest nonprofit hospital systems in the country, announced last week a rapid, expansive deployment of telehealth in the acute-care setting. Hospitalists and specialists at all 28 Banner Health hospitals now can conduct virtual patient visits on COVID-19 units. Now, Banner is bringing virtual technology to the ICU.

Physicians in the hospital can conduct a thorough exam without entering a patient room. They can check on their patients at any time, including talking with them, viewing their vital sign monitors and, using the advanced camera option, can zoom in close enough to even check a patient’s pupils. 

Public asked to continue social distancing

Gov. Ducey said Friday that the state is doing “everything possible” to reduce the spread of the virus and will continue to monitor the situation. The state has not reached the desired goal of 14 straight days of downward trajectory, said the governor, who called on citizens to help keep the disease from spreading. 

The Centers for Disease Control for preventing the spread include:

• Wash hands often and use 60-percent alcohol-based hand sanitizers 
• Avoid touching the eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands
• Avoid close contact
• Stay out of crowded places and avoid mass gatherings
• Cover your mouth and nose with a cloth face cover when around others
• Cover coughs and sneezes
• Throw used tissues in the trash
• Monitor health for symptoms and stay home if ill

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