SARS-CoV-2 control on a large urban college campus without mass testing

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Epidemiology
• Higher Education Administration

Background:

• Mass testing for SARS-CoV-2 (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2) was not widely adopted by universities due to resource intensity and strain on national capacity.
• Concerns existed regarding the impact of false negatives from mass testing on encouraging unsafe behaviors.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of a combined strategy of mitigation, containment, and communication with targeted testing for virus control at a large urban university.
• To assess the SARS-CoV-2 prevalence in asymptomatic students and the overall impact of the implemented control measures.

Main Methods:

• Implemented a virus control strategy centered on three pillars: mitigation, containment, and communication.
• Conducted testing for symptomatic individuals and a random subset of asymptomatic students for surveillance.

Main Results:

• Random surveillance testing revealed a consistent asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 prevalence of 0.4% throughout the academic term.
• Two surges in cases were effectively managed through enhanced mitigation, communication, and targeted testing.
• The cumulative case count was 445, with most infections linked to off-campus undergraduate student behavior.

Conclusions:

• Behavioral mitigation and communication, coupled with a limited, targeted testing strategy, proved effective in controlling SARS-CoV-2 transmission on a large urban campus.
• This approach achieved comparable or higher case rates than peer institutions employing mass testing.