COVID-19 in Connecticut institutions of higher education during the 2020-2021 academic year

Abstract

Background: During the 2020-2021 academic year, many institutions of higher education reopened to residential students while pursuing strategies to mitigate the risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission on campus. Reopening guidance emphasized PCR or antigen testing for residential students and social distancing measures to reduce the frequency of close interpersonal contact. Connecticut colleges and universities employed a variety of approaches to reopening campuses to residential students. Methods: We used data on testing, cases, and social contact in 18 residential college and university campuses in Connecticut to characterize institutional reopening strategies and COVID-19 outcomes. We compared institutions' fall 2020 COVID-19 plans, submitted to the Connecticut Department of Public Health, and analyzed contact rates and COVID-19 outcomes throughout the academic year. Results: In census block groups containing residence halls, fall student move-in resulted in a 475% (95% CI 373%-606%) increase in average contact, and spring move-in resulted in a 561% (441%-713%) increase in average contact. The relationship between test frequency and case rate per residential student was complex: institutions that tested students infrequently detected few cases but failed to blunt transmission, while institutions that tested students more frequently detected more cases and prevented further spread. In fall 2020, each additional test per student per week was associated with a reduction of 0.0014 cases per student per week (95% CI: -0.0028, -0.000012). Residential student case rates were associated with higher case rates in the town where the school was located, but it is not possible to determine whether on-campus infections were transmitted to the broader community or vice versa. Conclusions: Campus outbreaks among residential students might be avoided or mitigated by frequent testing, social distancing, and mandatory vaccination. Vaccination rates among residential students and surrounding communities may determine the necessary scale of residential testing programs and social distancing measures during the 2021-2022 academic year.

SARS-CoV-2 Attack Rate and Population Immunity in Southern New England, March 2020 to May 2021

“…A published bayesian inferential framework based on a dynamical epidemic model (eFigure 1 in the Supplement) was used to fit case, hospitalization, and death data from Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. 1,30 We collected 11 daily data streams from each state: (1) cumulative confirmed cases, (2) cumulative confirmed cases by age, (3) cumulative hospitalized cases, (4) cumulative hospitalized cases by age, (5) number of patients currently hospitalized, (6) number of patients currently in an ICU, (7) number of patients currently receiving mechanical ventilation, (8) cumulative deaths, (9) cumulative deaths by age, (10)…”

SARS-CoV-2 attack rate and population immunity in southern New England, March 2020 - May 2021

“…A validated Bayesian inferential framework based on a dynamical epidemic model (compartmental diagram in Supplementary Figure 1) was used to fit case, hospitalization, and death data from Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island [1,25]. Eleven daily data streams were collected from each state: (1) cumulative confirmed cases, (2) cumulative confirmed cases by age, (3) cumulative hospitalized cases, (4) cumulative hospitalized cases by age, (5) number of patients currently hospitalized, (6) number of patients currently in ICU, (7) number of patients currently on mechanical ventilation, (8) cumulative deaths, (9) cumulative deaths by age, (10) cumulative hospital deaths, (11) cumulative hospital discharges. Note that the age-stratified data do not always sum to the all-ages data streams.…”

“…Clinical experience and trial data accrued during the first and most deadly [ 1 , 2 ] wave of March-April 2020 leading to improvements in care for hospitalized patients [ 3 – 6 ]. Understanding of mobility, lockdown, and contact tracing policies improved in summer 2020, allowing for preparation of school reopening plans in autumn 2020 [ 7 – 9 ]. However, in fall 2020, substantial variation in results reported from several large seroprevalence studies [ 10 – 12 ] meant that we knew little at the time about the true number of individuals that had been infected between March 2020 and Nov 2020, and how strongly population susceptibility would drive the winter epidemic wave of 2020–2021.…”

Optimizing COVID-19 testing strategies on college campuses: evaluation of the health and economic costs

“…Retrospective analysis suggests that these programs reduced transmission at universities (16,17) and in the surrounding communities (18). With the increasing availability and decreasing costs of SARS-CoV-2 tests, large-scale proactive testing leading to early detection and isolation of infections has become a viable but underutilized strategy for mitigating surges (17,19,20).…”