Mitigation of SARS-CoV-2 transmission at a large public university

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. Here we report a case study at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where a multimodal “SH...

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Published in:	Nature communications Vol. 13; no. 1; p. 3207
Main Authors:	Alnaji, Fadi G., Wang, Leyi, Fredrickson, Richard L., Wang, Tong, Wong, George N., Uelmen, Johnny, Maslov, Sergei, Weiner, Zachary J., Zhang, Hantao, Liu, Zhiru, Ibrahim, Ahmed, Vance, Nickolas P., Galvan, Isaac J., Miller, Andrew, Grohens, Joseph, Stevens, Mary P., Parker, Robert C., Santos, Edward, Steinman, Julie D., Fenner, Melvin R., Dohrer, Kirstin, Best-Popescu, Catherine, Durack, Gary, Wetter, Nathan, Breitbarth, Jessica, Simpson, Charlie, Kaler, Robin N., Harris, Chris, Valera, Enrique Andres, Anton, Patricia K., Bryan, Stephen P., Stone, Deborah S., Young, Danita B., Ward, Wanda E., Vozenilek, John A., Bashir, Rashid, Garg, Mayank, Cooper, Julian C., Snyder, Gillian, Lore, Michelle H., Yocum, Dustin L., Novakofski, Jan E., Loots, Melanie J., Band, Mark, Banks, Kayla M., Bentea, Iuliana, Black, Jessica, Edwards, April, Eggett, Therese, Foster, Delaney, Fouke, Bruce W., Gallagher, Nicholas, Glueck, Declan, Gray, Brittani, Greta, Andrew, Hetrick, Ashley, Holterman, Arianna A., Ismail, Nahed, Jasenof, Ian, Kielbasa, Aaron, Kiesel, Teresa, Mayes, Jade ́, McGuffin, Reubin, McHenry, Kenton G., Mirza, Agha, Moseley, Jada, Mumford, Melody, Munoz, Kathleen, Murray, Arika D., Nolan, Moira, Parikh, Nil A., Pekosz, Andrew, Pflugmacher, Janna, Phillips, Janise M., Pitts, Collin, Potter, Mark C., Robinson, Matthew L., Rosillo, Edith, Rye, Leslie N., Sherwood, MaryEllen, Skadden, Carly, Skelton, Tina H., Smith, Charlie, Stech, Mary, Thomas, Ryan, Vanwingerden, Scott, Vlach, Evette, Watkins, Ronald S., Watson, Karriem, White, Karen C., Jones, Robert J., Cangellaris, Andreas C., Martinis, Susan A., Brooke, Christopher B., Elbanna, Ahmed, Sullivan, William C., Smith, Rebecca L., Fan, Timothy M., Hergenrother, Paul J., Burke, Martin D.
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	London Nature Publishing Group UK 09-06-2022 Nature Publishing Group Nature Portfolio
Subjects:	38 38/77 60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES 631/114/2397 631/1647/2234 631/326/2521 631/326/596/4130 692/700/478/174 Case reports Case studies Colleges & universities computational models Coronaviruses COVID-19 COVID-19 - epidemiology COVID-19 - prevention & control COVID-19 Testing Disease transmission Epidemic models Epidemiology Health risks Humanities and Social Sciences Humans infectious-disease diagnostics microbiology techniques multidisciplinary Pandemics Pharmaceuticals Public health Saliva SARS-CoV-2 SARS-CoV-2 - genetics Science Science (multidisciplinary) Sensitivity and Specificity Severe acute respiratory syndrome Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 Universities
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Summary:	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. 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. 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. 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. This case study shows that fast/frequent testing and other interventions mitigated transmission of SARS-CoV-2 at a large public university. Safely opening university campuses has been a major challenge during the COVID-19 pandemic. Here, the authors describe a program of public health measures employed at a university in the United States which, combined with other non-pharmaceutical interventions, allowed the university to stay open in fall 2020 with limited evidence of transmission.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 BNL-223764-2022-JAAM SC0012704; U54EB015408; FG02-97ER25308; 1753249; U54EB027690 USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) National Institutes of Health (NIH) University of Illinois
ISSN:	2041-1723 2041-1723
DOI:	10.1038/s41467-022-30833-3