We assessed data from a stratified random sample of 697 individuals susceptible to first infection who completed 4,512 repeated online questionnaires at four-week intervals between September 2020 and May 2021 in the Val Venosta/Vinschgau district (South Tyrol, Italy) as part of the longitudinal CHRIS Covid-19 study.

Among individuals susceptible to first SARS-CoV-2 infection, almost no personal characteristic such as age, sex, education, comorbidities, lifestyle factors or preexisting pathologies, had an influence on the likelihood of undergoing SARS-CoV-2 testing in the study area over the nine months of the COVID-19 pandemic covered by this study.

To characterize COVID-19 epidemiology it is important to understand how much testing is driven by contextual or individual conditions, in order to delineate the role of individual behavior and to shape public health interventions and resource allocation.

This type of knowledge from the general community along with test results and personal risk assessments collected in a rigorous and timely fashion can inform testing prioritization and communication strategies at the local level.

Read the full article here: https://doi.org/10.1080/20477724.2023.2191232