CU-Citizen Access

Get the behind-the-scenes story of how researchers at the University of Illinois developed their saliva-based test. This article by Raleigh Butler from CU-Citizen Access describes how the SHIELD team developed a system to analyze 100,000 COVID-19 tests weekly and get results back in a timely manner, with help from Rokwire’s Safer Illinois app. 

“The IT team started off with basic spreadsheets of the participants, marking those who tested positive. At the beginning of testing, all of this work was done manually. The team was also responsible for getting the results to McKinley, which aimed to distribute the results to the UIUC community via a new app, called Safer Illinois….

“The app was created by Bill Sullivan and his team at Rokwire and it allowed testing results to be directly sent to people’s phones. This would allow people with positive tests to be quickly and safely isolated, thus curbing disease spread. But seamlessly linking the McKinley database to the new app was another big challenge. 

“Remarkably, and largely due to Greg Gulick, interim chief information officer at the University, these IT challenges were overcome. Now, those who take the saliva test receive their results in less than a day. 

“It was a huge loss for the SHIELD team and the University community when Gulick died at the age of 56 on February 16, 2021 of COVID-19.”