Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a novel betacoronavirus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic. In the United States (US) up until January 2022, > 60 million people have been infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus and >800,000 died, with infections and deaths disproportionally affecting populations that have been historically marginalized1. Wide disparities also persist by race/ethnicity and age with COVID-19 testing and vaccine uptake related to social and structural factors, resulting in adverse health consequences.
As public health measures have scaled up, mitigation strategies are increasingly being considered to reduce community spread of infection. These measures include rapid-result at-home tests, protective measures (masking, social distancing, increased hygiene), treatments, and contact-tracing and isolation. As the pandemic evolves, new discoveries, technologies, and strategies to combat COVID-19 are being implemented with limited backing of research data. To address this continued unmet public health need, the You and Me Healthy registry is being created to engage community members and serve as a way to provide and collect information from all people who are interested in engaging in upcoming research studies, including those related to COVID-19.