CSU Source: CSU work on COVID-19 in skilled nursing facilities leads national research

26 Apr CSU Source: CSU work on COVID-19 in skilled nursing facilities leads national research

By Hannah Halusker
CSU Source

The research team includes, from left, Drs. Kristy Pabilonia, Greg Ebel, Sue VandeWoude and Nicole Ehrhart. Photo courtesy of CSU Source. 

The Columbine Health Systems Center for Healthy Aging at Colorado State University has amassed one of the largest archives of longitudinally collected human samples of COVID-19 through their research in skilled nursing facilities.

In the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, when other researchers were in the throes of developing diagnostic tests for COVID or assessing the virus’ infectivity in the population, the Center for Healthy Aging was thinking long-term: How does COVID-19 spread in nursing facilities, and how will the virus behave in the same nursing facility several months from now?

These initial research questions prompted the Longitudinal COVID-19 Screening Study in Senior Care Facilities. Researchers working on the study have now completed nearly 40,000 COVID-19 tests in senior residential care communities throughout Colorado, poising the Center as a national leader in research on how COVID-19 affects older adults and rehab patients in senior nursing facilities.