NJ HEROES TOO (New Jersey Healthcare Essential Worker Outreach and Education Study - Testing Overlooked Occupations)

Background: The purpose of this study was to address the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on underrepresented minority communities in New Jersey and the persistent under testing in these groups. Rutgers had already developed cohorts of healthcare workers to monitor COVID-19 and support clinical trial enrollment. During this work, the team saw that many lower income healthcare workers in support roles were more likely to be infected and were often members of minority communities. This study leveraged these workers as ambassadors to expand COVID-19 testing in Black and Latinx communities and tested whether a healthcare worker driven strategy improved testing uptake compared to standard community outreach.

Materials/Methods: The study engaged healthcare workers from overlooked occupational groups and used them as index participants to encourage testing among people in their households and extended social networks. A healthcare worker-focused outreach intervention was designed with community input to develop culturally tailored testing materials and messages that addressed concerns in Black and Latinx communities. A mixed methods design evaluated the effectiveness and cost of the healthcare worker strategy compared with standard outreach led by community-based organizations. The Rutgers Clinical Genomics Laboratory saliva test, the first FDA-authorized saliva-based SARS-CoV-2 diagnostic for home use, was used across both approaches. The evaluation included individual, family, and community factors that influenced testing and shaped the potential for scale-up.

Outcome/Impact: The primary outcome was COVID-19 testing uptake. Findings supported the future expansion of this strategy to other frontline and essential workers and provided a sustainable, generalizable approach for improving testing in underserved populations.