Blaine County Disaster Services Coordinator, Chris Corwin and the Blaine County GIS department have cooperated to develop a location-based, confidential online survey for citizens to self-report COVID positive cases. The survey uses Blaine County’s GIS services and a software application called Survey 123 from ESRI.
Data collected in the survey will be used in two ways. First, the information will be used as a safety awareness tool by first responders. It will give these personnel better awareness of the COVID status of occupants at locations to which they are responding. It will not change their response policies. All first responders will continue to respond to all emergency calls as if a person is COVID positive.
Second, survey data may be used by epidemiologists to gain better understanding of past and current COVID prevalence in our community. Since the survey relies on self-reporting, the data will not have a high level of statistical confidence or drive its own conclusions, but they may be used to help validate future studies.
Wood River Fire and Rescue Chief Ron Bateman said, “We are thankful for the County’s efforts with this survey. It may feel like an invasion of privacy in the midst of an already difficult time, but if people are willing to participate, the information will help further protect emergency responders during this continued crisis.”
Blaine County Ambulance District Medical Director and St Luke’s Wood River emergency room physician Dr. Terry O’Connor added that, “In addition, survey data can inform me and my public health partners if we need to enhance and expand our testing efforts to stay ahead of the threat of a future outbreak.”
Citizens who have been tested for coronavirus, who are willing to report their COVID positive status and the dates associated with their positive status can do so confidentially via this link to the online survey: https://arcg.is/1GT0SP. It is accessible now. Survey respondents are not required to answer questions they do not feel comfortable answering. Results will be retained by Blaine County GIS for 12 months in a password protected file. If anyone has questions about the survey, they can contact Chris Corwin at 208-788-5508.