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

2022; Nature Portfolio; Volume: 13; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1038/s41467-022-30833-3

2041-1723

Diana Rose E. Rañoa, Robin L. Holland, Fadi G. Alnaji, Kelsie J. Green, Leyi Wang, Richard Fredrickson, Tong Wang, George N. Wong, Johnny A. Uelmen, Sergei Maslov, Zachary J. Weiner, Alexei V. Tkachenko, Hantao Zhang, Zhiru Liu, Ahmed Ibrahim, Sanjay J. Patel, John M. Paul, Nickolas P. Vance, Joseph G. Gulick, Sandeep Puthanveetil Satheesan, Isaac J. Galvan, Andrew Miller, Joseph Grohens, Todd J. Nelson, Mary P. Stevens, Patricia Hennessy, Robert Parker, Edward Santos, Charles Brackett, Julie D. Steinman, Melvin R. Fenner, Kirstin Dohrer, M.A. DeLorenzo, Laura Wilhelm-Barr, Brian R. Brauer, Catherine Best‐Popescu, Gary Durack, Nathan Wetter, David M. Kranz, Jessica Breitbarth, Charlie Simpson, Julie A. Pryde, Robin N. Kaler, Chris Harris, Allison C. Vance, Jodi L. Silotto, Mark Johnson, Enrique Valera, Patricia K. Anton, Lowa Mwilambwe, Stephen P. Bryan, Deborah S. Stone, Danita B. Young, Wanda E. Ward, John Lantz, John A. Vozenilek, Rashid Bashir, Jeffrey S. Moore, Mayank Garg, Julian C. Cooper, Gillian Snyder, Michelle Halla Lore, Dustin L. Yocum, Neal J. Cohen, Jan Novakofski, Melanie J. Loots, Randy L. Ballard, Mark Band, Kayla M. Banks, Joseph D. Barnes, Iuliana Bentea, Jessica Donze Black, Jeremy Busch, Abigail Conte, Madison Conte, Michael Curry, Jennifer Eardley, April Edwards, Therese E. Eggett, Judes Fleurimont, Delaney Foster, Bruce W. Fouke, Nicholas Gallagher, Nicole Gastala, Scott A. Genung, Declan Glueck, Brittani Gray, Andrew Greta, Robert M. Healy, Ashley Hetrick, Arianna A. Holterman, Nahed Ismail, Ian Jasenof, Patrick Kelly, Aaron Kielbasa, Teresa Kiesel, Lorenzo M. Kindle, Rhonda L. Lipking, Yukari C. Manabe, Jade ́ Mayes, Reubin McGuffin, Kenton McHenry, Agha Zeeshan Mirza, Jada Moseley, Heba H. Mostafa, Melody Mumford, Kathleen Munoz, Arika D. Murray, Moira Nolan, Nil A. Parikh, Andrew Pekosz, Janna Pflugmacher, Janise M. Phillips, Collin Pitts, Mark C. Potter, James Quisenberry, Janelle Rear, Matthew L. Robinson, Edith Rosillo, Leslie N. Rye, MaryEllen Sherwood, Anna Katharina Simon, Jamie M. Singson, Carly Skadden, Tina H. Skelton, Charlie Smith, Mary Stech, Ryan Thomas, Matthew A. Tomaszewski, Erika A. Tyburski, Scott Vanwingerden, Evette Vlach, Ronald S. Watkins, Karriem S. Watson, Karen White, T. L. Killeen, Robert J. Jones, A.C. Cangellaris, Susan A. Martinis, Awais Vaid, Christopher B. Brooke, Joseph T. Walsh, Ahmed Elbanna, W. C. Sullivan, Rebecca L. Smith, Nigel Goldenfeld, Timothy M. Fan, Paul J. Hergenrother, Martin D. Burke,

SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 Research

Abstract 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.