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Local Community More in Tune with
Genetic Testing Because of COVID
SASHA ROGELBERG | STAFF WRITER
O ver the past two years,
University of Pennsylvania
students have grown accus-
tomed to spitting in tubes.

Many line up weekly or twice-weekly
for their routine COVID tests, swirling
and spitting saliva without a second
thought. In 2019, however, this sight
would have been bizarre.

“At the time, it would have been
like, what is this creature?” said
Mallory Kovit, director of the Greater
Philly Hillel Jewish Graduate Student
Network. 2019 was the last time Greater Philly
Hillel Network hosted a genetic screen-
ing pop-up in partnership with Penn
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MARCH 31, 2022 | JEWISHEXPONENT.COM
Dr. Chani Yondorf of Einstein Healthcare Network says that as COVID has waned,
more people are approaching her about genetic testing.
Courtesy of Judy Horwitz
and national nonprofit JScreen, where
undergraduates and graduate students
could pick up tests to screen for Jewish
genetic diseases. Many chose to take
the kits home, opting to provide the
saliva sample in private.

But as odd as providing a saliva sam-
ple for genetic testing was two years
ago, Kovit believes that will no longer
be the case for Penn’s next genetic
screening event, which she is hoping to
plan for the near future.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has more
or less brought people into a differ-
ent kind of arena of public health,”
she said. “Whether it’s a conversation
about best practices for prevention of
a disease, it’s all become a way more
relevant conversation.”
While COVID has changed many
health behaviors, making some more
fearful of going to the grocery store or
getting vaccinated, health professionals
have noticed it’s opened the minds of
young people and prospective parents
getting screened for Tay-Sachs, BRCA
genes — which increase risk of breast
and ovarian cancers — and hundreds
of other diseases of which Ashkenazi
Jews are at increased risk.

Organizations such as JScreen have
provided ways to complete genetic test-
ing from home, even before the pan-
demic. Hillary Regelman, director of
national outreach for JScreen, said that
“COVID-friendly” remote screenings
remained high during the pandemic,
but that educational efforts increased,
especially as the pandemic saturated
the news cycle.

JScreen debuted its “Give a Spit” ad
in Times Square on New Year’s Eve
in 2021, hoping to get people to think
twice about testing.




“We try to be fun and proactive on
social media and make it very cool and
catchy,” Regelman said. “Obviously, it’s
a very serious topic, but we do it in a
very easy-to-digest way.”
In the 1970s, when the Ashkenazi
Jewish community brought the con-
cern of Tay-Sachs to the forefront,
genetic screening — though much
more limited to what is done today —
became heavily encouraged, Regelman
said. For the children and grandchil-
dren of this generation, the severity
of Tay-Sachs 50 years ago has been
largely forgotten, mostly thanks to the
extensive push for genetic testing, but
it remains a relevant practice for to-be
parents. is indicative of people being “open and
willing and interested” in their health.

However, for Center City residents
Charles Schnur and Brenna Stein, going
through extensive genetics screenings
illuminated troubles in the process that
the couple hopes young, to-be parents
won’t have to deal with in the future.

Both Schnur and Stein are heavy pro-
ponents of speaking about their experi-
ence doing genetic testing and believe it
was the right call for them but recognize
that, especially in COVID times, going
to the doctor was a hassle. Moreover,
COVID has revealed how people think
about their own risk. When they
received the results of their testing,
Schnur and Stein had a one in 3,000
“Now that we’re
post-COVID, people are
jumping at the opportunity
to make sure that they’re
in good health.”
DR. CHANI YONDORF
“We really try to get people where
they are because everyone is just not
going to hear about us at their syna-
gogue,” Regelman said.

Though Regelman’s concerns about
getting young people tested aren’t
unfounded, it appears that her fears
may not come to fruition.

Dr. Chani Yondorf, part of Einstein
Healthcare Network’s Prevention of
Jewish Genetic Diseases service, has
noticed patients approach her about
genetic testing now that COVID case
numbers have leveled off.

“Now that we’re post-COVID, peo-
ple are jumping at the opportunity to
make sure that they’re in good health,”
she said.

This phenomenon isn’t specific to
genetic screening, Yondorf said, but it
chance of their child having Tay-Sachs.

“Think about the way that people
are thinking about COVID right now,”
Stein said. “The way people are making
decisions is based on fear or emotions,
not statistics.”
Though services such as JScreen
and Einstein Healthcare encourage or
require a genetic counselor to discuss
test results with a couple, the lack of
plain language and risk analysis that
is sometimes associated with genetic
testing remains a concern, the couple
believes. “Medical terms sound scary; all
these things sound scary,” Stein said.

“We need to work harder on making
this stuff less scary.” JE
srogelberg@midatlanticmedia.com JEWISHEXPONENT.COM
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