COVID-19 Precautions

We know that potential participants may be concerned about risk of COVID-19 exposure. Most of the counseling sessions for the Med-South group can be done by phone with or without video-conferencing (like Zoom™) and all of the WW program can be done with a smart phone or online. However, a minimum of 5 in-person visits are required for the Med-South group and 4 for WW group, mostly for study measures over the course of the 2-year study.

Measurement visits will be done at our research office in Chapel Hill.  During these visits, we will follow all UNC guidelines for minimizing risk due to COVID-19 as listed below:

• All study participants and staff will be required to wear masks,
• study participants will only have direct contact with 2-3 research staff,
• all equipment (scale, blood pressure monitor, etc.) and surfaces will be wiped down between study participants,
• at most 2 study participants will be in the building at one time,
• and counseling will take place in a room with more than 10 feet of space between study participant and staff.

With these measures, we think risk is minimal, certainly less than going to the grocery store or other public spaces. That said, you will need to decide if you are comfortable taking part in this type of project in these times of COVID-19. Risk may be greater if you plan on taking public transportation (Chapel Hill Transit bus) to our office.  Please call us if you plan to use public transportation so we can discuss other options.

For more detailed information on COVID-19 and being a UNC research participant, click here.