The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic remains a public health challenge around the world. With the opening of universities this fall, there was an increasing risk of transmission throughout campus and surrounding areas. Before the opening of universities, many established efforts for prevention, mitigation, and testing.
3,000 US colleges reported in a Davidson College tracking study which found 4% were conducting fully in-person, 23% primarily in person, and the rest using a hybrid model or fully online. Strategies used for testing on campus include testing all students before arrival, prearrival testing with a follow-up, scheduled screening with weekly repeated testing, random screening and testing, testing on-demand, and wastewater testing to detect virus in the sewage. The efficacy of these different testing models is still unknown as they are still under evaluation. There is thought that for a university setting with movement of many different people, entry screening combined with regular testing might help to prevent and reduce transmission of COVID-19.
On September 29th, 2020, the CDC released a report that described widespread infection at a large university in North Carolina and a rapid increase in infections among young adults 18-22 years of age nationwide. The university in North Carolina had implemented many mitigation measures along with isolation plans but did not implement any entry or serial testing. The second report showed that during August 2-29, COVID-19 incidence increased 62.7%. It is believed transition is most likely to happen if there is no mandatory use of facemasks, insufficient physical distancing, and inadequate hand hygiene. Overall, students should be provided with options to shelter-in-place or quarantine close to campus to reduce community and secondary transmission. With this increase in COVID-19 cases among college students, prevention efforts and robust testing is essential to protect campuses and the larger community.
Take Away: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic remains a public health challenge around the world. Before the opening of these universities, many established efforts for prevention, mitigation, and testing strategies. Strategies used for testing on campus include testing all students before arrival, prearrival testing with a follow-up, scheduled screening with weekly repeated testing, random screening and testing, testing on-demand, and wastewater testing to detect virus in the sewage. On September 29th, 2020, the CDC released a report that described widespread infection at a large university in North Carolina and a rapid increase in infections among young adults 18-22 years of age nationwide. Mitigation measures and robust testing both on and near campuses have been determined to be essential. Overall, students should be provided with options to shelter-in-place or quarantine close to campus to reduce community and secondary transmission.