Dear RADx-UP partners,

As Warren Kibbe expressed in this month’s RADx-UP Project-wide Meeting, the RADx-UP consortium is ending the year on a high note – 102 project teams are submitting CDE data to the CDCC. Your teams have enrolled more than 355,000 participants, conducted more than 437,000 COVID-19 tests, and published more than 125 research articles (including a collection in last month’s special supplement to the American Journal of Public Health). Throughout the year, you have connected and collaborated – in Working Groups and conferences, in Community Connections and project-wide meetings – sharing your learnings and insights around community-engaged research and COVID-19 testing and vaccination. Thank you for a full and engaging year.

To honor your work and wrap up the year, we would like to share our Year in Review; watch a short video and read the news story here on RADx-UP.org.

Wishing safe and healthy holidays to you all, and a happy new year. See you in 2023.

Remembering Broderick Crawford



Broderick Crawford, a community health leader from Kansas City and leader of the Engaging Black/African Americans Working group, has died. He was an expert community organizer and mobilized efforts for health equity and justice in regard to COVID-19 and beyond. Crawford shared his thoughts on building infrastructure and tailoring responses to individual communities in the Looking Forward: Bridging Infrastructures for Equitable COVID-19 Testing and Vaccination Data Profile on pages 27 and 28. His dedication to his community reminds us of the importance of our work. Crawford’s death is mourned in the RADx-UP community, Kansas City, and nationally.

Complete the Tracking & Evaluation Project Feedback Survey

The RADx-UP CDCC Tracking and Evaluation team requests that project teams and community and academic partners complete the Project Feedback Survey (PFS), extended to Jan. 9, 2023. This survey assesses your use of and satisfaction with the CDCC’s support services. The survey will take up to 25 minutes to complete.

Find the survey here.

The RADx-UP Partnering for Impact – Consortial Publications program has its first manuscript approved by the Publications and Dissemination Committee for submission to a journal. The manuscript “Examining COVID-19 Vaccination and Testing Behaviors by Heritage and Linguistic Preferences among Latinx RADx-UP Participants,” which used aggregated data from the RADx-UP CDCC, is a multi-institution collaboration among RADx-UP investigators and community partners. The writing team is led by Dr. Emily D’Agostino from the You and Me COVID Free project.

The Consortial Publications process starts with a submission of an analysis concept. To learn more about Consortial Publications, visit the Partnering for Impact homepage.

Join the Engaging Black/African Americans Working Group

The Engaging Black/African Americans Working Group is seeking new members. This Working Group facilitates virtual town halls that showcase RADx-UP projects and the communities they serve and shares best practices and tips for successful outreach, COVID-19 vaccinations and testing challenges, and possible solutions. Recordings of past presentations with VOICES and NYC COVID Warriors are now available. The next presentation will take place in January 2023.

Use this form to join the Working Group or join from the Engaging Black/African Americans Working group webpage.

Steering Committee – Call for Project Member Nominations

The CDCC is seeking nominations for project team members to serve one-year terms on the RADx-UP Steering Committee starting in January 2023. Members leverage their experiences, expertise, and insight to help the RADx-UP program achieve its strategic goals. The expected time commitment for this committee is approximately 1.5 hours every other month. Project team members will be compensated for their work. To submit a nomination for membership, complete this online form by Dec. 21, 2022.

RADx-UP Research Brief

Tailored community outreach in Latino communities can be effective when trying to increase testing rates

The COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately affected Latino individuals. Compared to non-Latino White individuals, they had higher case, hospitalization, and mortality rates, which were associated with low rates of testing for SARS-CoV-2. Researchers at the University of Oregon studied if tailoring community outreach to the Latino community could increase the number of Latino individuals who tested for SARS-CoV-2 in the study Oregon Saludable: Juntos Podemos (Healthy Oregon: Together We Can).

View and share the Research Brief in English and Spanish.

COVID-19 Testing Still Matters

As we approach three years since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, U.S. hospitals have been overwhelmed this fall by Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and flu cases. Health officials are coining the term “tripledemic” and cautioning the public to continue testing and follow COVID-19 vaccine and booster recommendations.

The RADx-UP CDCC created a video and flyer in English and in Spanish to help get the word out about the continued importance of testing. These resources can be easily accessed and shared by project teams. Find the materials and a social media toolkit related to them.

Project-wide meeting presentation recap: BE SAGE

The October Project-wide Meeting included a project presentation by Rebecca E. Lee, Sandra Genis, and Hector Valdez of Arizona State University and Tomás Léon of the Equality Health Foundation with the project BE SAGE (Back to Early Care and Education with Sustainability via Active Garden Education). BE SAGE leveraged relationships with early care and education preschools in Arizona to distribute saliva-based COVID-19 tests at back-to-preschool testing events. They also measured children’s ability to perform a saliva test on themselves. Most children were able to complete the test, but younger children generally struggled more and took longer. The majority of kids across age groups rated the experience as easy and fun.

Read more about the project and results.

November Community Connections Conversation recording available

The recording of the Community Connections meeting that took place Nov. 10 is now available. This conversation is with Florence Siman, director of programs at El Pueblo (a RADx-UP Community Collaboration Grant project) about lessons learned working with community health workers, or promotoras, throughout the pandemic.

Watch the video.

Final Funding Opportunity: Rapid Research Pilot Project grants

Jan. 13, 2023, is the deadline to apply for the one-year NIH-funded research pilot program. Please share this opportunity with other networks. Watch this video with a previous RADx-UP RP2 awardee, and learn more about how to apply here.

RADx Data Hub open to all researchers



The newly launched RADx Data Hub can be used by researchers to view over 125 RADx studies and request and analyze data from them. This new Data Hub provides unprecedented access to COVID-19 data for researchers to conduct secondary data analyses, forge new collaborations, and build a community to accelerate scientific research and innovations. Check it out!

The Life Cycle of SARS-CoV-2



This animated video from Maastricht University in The Netherlands displays how the virus that causes COVID-19 enters and attacks a human lung. The stop-motion-like animation style of this video shows how the virus is assembled and how it multiplies in engaging detail. Check it out to learn more about the virus we’re working to fight!