Although the city of Redmond accounts for a fraction of the population in Deschutes County, of late it has accounted for nearly a third of the positive COVID-19 cases, according to a county health official.

That’s why Oregon State University Team-based Rapid Assessment of Community-Level Coronavirus Epidemics, or TRACE, teams will be combing 30 neighborhoods in the city. Redmond has a population of about 35,000 and the teams will be seeking about 600 volunteers to be tested for the virus. Volunteers will be notified in three to five days of the test results from the nasal swab.

“The combined approach of increased testing of asymptomatic people and wastewater surveillance provides a lot of insight into what’s going on,” Dr. George Conway, director of the Deschutes County Health Services, said Wednesday in a media briefing. “We’re really grateful that OSU is willing to do the technical support for the wastewater testing and Redmond wastewater division for actually doing the sampling.

“This should give us a better geospatial, physical distribution of cases.”

Between Friday and Sunday, the university will do TRACE community COVID-19 sampling in Redmond by sending out two- or three-person field teams. Redmond public works staff will also gather multiple sewage samples, which researchers will analyze for genetic material from the virus that causes COVID-19.

The goal of the wastewater study is another way to paint a picture of how prevalent the virus is in the community. While the virus cannot survive as a pathogenic agent in wastewater, infected people pass detectable genetic components of the virus into the sewer system, according to an OSU press release.

Mayor George Endicott said that there’s a lot to learn about the virus and that studies like these help everyone.

“These scientific studies are really important to figure out how the virus spreads and how widespread it is and the impact it has,” Endicott said on Wednesday at the briefing.

Armed with information about where COVID-19 is spreading, will help the county disperse manpower and other resources to thwart the spread, Conway said.

This is the second time that the teams have made an appearance in Central Oregon. TRACE has taken random testing samples five times in Corvallis, twice in Newport, once each in Bend, Hermiston and Eugene.

For more about TRACE, visit trace.oregonstate.edu.