Colleges and universities have proven to be especially difficult environments.
However, this proved particularly challenging during Spring and early Summer 2020 due to limited availability of data on viral load dynamics through different disease stages especially the pre-symptomatic shedding phase, the lack of consensus on the dominant mode of transmission of COVID-19 specifically the controversy about the role of airborne route 1, and the lack of a quantitative framework for the interplay between human behavior and transmission dynamics 2, 3. Strategic deployment of non-pharmaceutical interventions has relied primarily on combining laboratory performance characteristics with theoretical modeling to estimate real-world outcomes. It has been very challenging to control the spread of SARS-CoV-2 worldwide. This case study shows that fast/frequent testing and other interventions mitigated transmission of SARS-CoV-2 at a large public university. In Fall 2020, we performed >1,000,000 covidSHIELD tests, positivity rates remained low, we had zero COVID-19-related hospitalizations or deaths amongst our university community, and mortality in the surrounding Champaign County was reduced more than 4-fold relative to expected. The program included epidemiological modeling and surveillance, fast/frequent testing using a novel low-cost and scalable saliva-based RT-qPCR assay for SARS-CoV-2 that bypasses RNA extraction, called covidSHIELD, and digital tools for communication and compliance. Here we report a case study at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where a multimodal “SHIELD: Target, Test, and Tell” program, with other non-pharmaceutical interventions, was employed to keep classrooms and laboratories open. In Fall 2020, universities saw extensive transmission of SARS-CoV-2 among their populations, threatening health of the university and surrounding communities, and viability of in-person instruction.
Nature Communications volume 13, Article number: 3207 ( 2022) Mitigation of SARS-CoV-2 transmission at a large public university
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