Protocol of a population-based prospective COVID-19 cohort study Munich, Germany (KoCo19)

Abstract

Background: Due to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, public health interventions have been introduced globally in order to prevent the spread of the virus and avoid the overload of health care systems, especially for the most severely affected patients. Scientific studies to date have focused primarily on describing the clinical course of patients, identifying treatment options and developing vaccines. In Germany, as in many other regions, current tests for SARS-CoV2 are not conducted on a representative basis and in a longitudinal design. Furthermore, knowledge about the immune status of the population is lacking. Nonetheless, these data are needed to understand the dynamics of the pandemic and hence to appropriately design and evaluate interventions. For this purpose, we recently started a prospective population-based cohort in Munich, Germany, with the aim to develop a better understanding of the state and dynamics of the pandemic. Methods: In 100 out of 755 randomly selected constituencies, 3000 Munich households are identified via random route and offered enrollment into the study. All household members are asked to complete a baseline questionnaire and subjects ≥14 years of age are asked to provide a venous blood sample of ≤3 ml for the determination of SARS-CoV-2 IgG/IgA status. The residual plasma and the blood pellet are preserved for later genetic and molecular biological investigations. For twelve months, each household member is asked to keep a diary of daily symptoms, whereabouts and contacts via WebApp. If symptoms suggestive for COVID-19 are reported, family members, including children < 14 years, are offered a pharyngeal swab taken at the

Broad T Cell Targeting of Structural Proteins After SARS-CoV-2 Infection: High Throughput Assessment of T Cell Reactivity Using an Automated Interferon Gamma Release Assay

“…In addition, 85 study subjects from 36 non-exposed households participating in the COVID-19 cohort Munich (KoCo19) were recruited as a control group and were also tested using the IGRA ( Figure 1 ) ( 20 , 22 ). These study subjects did not report contact to SARS-CoV-2 infected individuals and were previously tested twice for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies, being seronegative both times.…”

“…Personal data of the study subjects was collected as described previously ( 18 – 20 ). In short, the mobile data collection tool OpenDataKit (ODK) was used to capture data during study visits by field workers on Android smartphones.…”

Analysis of the early COVID-19 epidemic curve in Germany by regression models with change points

“…Therefore, additional data on daily deaths and hospital admissions and the number of tests performed should be considered. Furthermore, it is possible to estimate the proportion of undetected cases with the help of representative studies such as the one currently conducted in Munich, see [ 20 ]. In a recent paper [ 21 ] performed a time-varying estimation of the case detection ratio (CDR) for different age groups.…”

In Search of the SARS-CoV-2 Protection Correlate: Head-to-Head Comparison of Two Quantitative S1 Assays in Pre-characterized Oligo-/Asymptomatic Patients

“…Here, we present the results of a direct comparison of two novel quantitative anti-S1/RBD antibody tests applied to a subset of samples derived from a prospective population-based cohort study of COVID-19 incidence/prevalence in Munich, Germany. The ongoing KoCo19 study investigates the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infections among a randomly selected cohort, analyzes transmission within households and risk factors, and compares the performance of various immunoassays in testing asymptomatic and oligosymptomatic individuals [ 20 ]. The primary results were reported elsewhere including the estimated seroprevalance in Munich [ 21 ] and a comparison of seven qualitative seroassays to identify effective testing strategies [ 22 ].…”