The Snowball Study is intended to help identify people who have been infected with SARS-CoV-2 but don’t yet know it, and to learn about social activities and behaviors that affect the transmission of the virus.

The Snowball Study has 3 key goals: 

• First, we want to identify people who have been infected with SARS-CoV-2 but do not yet know it, so that they can isolate themselves or seek treatment as needed and their family members and close social contacts (such as friends and co-workers) can quarantine and protect themselves.
• Next, we hope to learn about the patterns of social contact and kinds of behavior that increase or decrease the transmission of respiratory diseases like coronavirus and the seasonal flu. This will help us to find people with viral infections faster and easier.
• Finally, in the longer term, we want to better understand how biological factors, behavior, and social interactions all affect how infectious respiratory diseases (such as COVID-19 and seasonal flu) spread throughout a community.