College Campuses Are COVID 'Superspreaders,' Study Finds
Robert PreidtWEDNESDAY, Jan. 13, 2021 (HealthDay News) -- U.S. colleges could be COVID-19 superspreader sites, and the first two weeks of classes are the most dangerous, researchers warn.
They studied 30 campuses nationwide with the highest numbers of reported coronavirus cases and found that more than half had spikes that peaked well above 1,000 cases per 100,000 people per week within the first two weeks of class.
On some campuses, 1 in 5 students had been infected with the virus by the end of the fall term. Four of the schools had more than 5,000 cases.
On 17 of the campuses, computer modeling showed that college outbreaks were also directly connected with infection peaks in the counties where the schools were located.
Luckily, the researchers also found that strict management of outbreaks -- such as immediately switching from in-person to online learning -- can lower infection peaks within about two weeks.
The study was published Jan. 13 in the journal Computer Methods in Biomechanics and Biomedical Engineering.
When compared to peak incidences of 70 to 150 per 100,000 people per week in the first and second waves of the COVID-19 pandemic, the rate of 1,000 cases per 100,000 people per week found in the study shows that colleges are at high risk for extremely high rates of infection, said lead author Hannah Lu, of Stanford University's Energy Resources Engineering program.
"Policymakers often use an incidence of 50 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people per week as a threshold for high-risk counties, states, or countries. All 30 institutions in our study exceeded this value, three even by two orders of that magnitude," Lu said in a journal news release.
"The number of students who had become infected just throughout the fall is more than twice the national average since the beginning of the outbreak of 5.3%, with 17.3 million reported cases at a population of 328.2 million," she noted.
For example, all 12,607 students at the University of Notre Dame were tested before the beginning of class and only nine tested positive. Less than two weeks into the term, the seven-day incidence was 3,083.
"However, with around 90 reported deaths nationwide, mainly college employees and not students, the campus-related death rate of 0.02% remains well below the average death rate of COVID-19," Lu said.
A limitation of this study is that the actual on-campus student population was often unreported and had to be estimated by the total fall quarter enrollment.
"This likely underestimates the real maximum incidence and the fraction of on-campus students that have been affected by the virus," the study authors wrote.
"Strikingly, these local campus outbreaks rapidly spread across the entire county and triggered a peak in new infections in neighboring communities in more than half of the cases," said senior study author Ellen Kuhl, the Robert Bosch Chair of Mechanical Engineering at Stanford.
"Our results confirm the widespread fear in early fall that colleges could become the new hot spots of COVID-19 transmission. But, at the same time, college administrators should be applauded for their rapid responses to successfully manage local outbreaks," Lu said.
More information
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more on COVID-19.
SOURCE: Computer Methods in Biomechanics and Biomedical Engineering, news release, Jan. 13, 2021
This article: Copyright © 2020 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
Resources
-
Articles
- Adolescent Parenting Introduction
-
Healthy Teens: Food, Eating & Nutrition During Adolescence
- Teenage Caloric Requirements
- Nutritional Guidelines for Teens
- How Can Parents Help Teens to Develop Healthy Eating Habits?
- Common Nutritional Challenges for Teenagers: Adolescent Obesity
- Common Nutritional Challenges for Teenagers: Eating Disorders and Unhealthy Dieting
- Common Nutritional Challenges for Teenagers: Adolescent Diabetes
- Adolescent Diabetes Continued
- Healthy Teens: Exercise and Sports
- Healthy Teens: Sleep
- Parenting Teens: Clothing Clashes, Housing Decisions, & Financial Management
- Parenting Teens: Skincare, Cosmetics, Tattoos, & Piercings
- Caring for Teens: Healthcare for Teens and Young Adults
-
Parenting Teens: Discipline, Love, Rules & Expectations
- Parenting Teens: Discipline, Love, Rules & Expectations
- Discipline and Guidance: Early to Middle Adolescence
- Discipline and Guidance: Early to Middle Adolescence: Time Management and Family Commitments
- Discipline and Guidance: Early to Middle Adolescence: Socializing, Dating and Driving
- Discipline and Guidance: Older Adolescents and Young Adults (18 Years and Older)
-
A Parent’s Guide to Protecting Teens’ Health and Safety
- A Parent's Guide to Protecting Teens' Health & Safety
- Understanding the Risks of Adolescent Drug Use: Part II
- What Can Parents Do to Prevent Teenage Alcohol and Drug Use?
- Steps Parents Can Take to Protect Their Children from Alcohol and Other Drug Use
- Steps for Parents: Part II
- Driving Privileges and Safe Driving Practices for Young Drivers
- Parental Guidelines for Teen Driving Privileges: The Family Driving Contract
- Protecting Teens from Abusive Relationships and Dating Violence
- Protecting Teens from Teenage Fights, Gang Violence, Exposure to Sexual Predators and Graphic Internet Violence
- Protecting Teens from Teenage Bullying
- Protecting Adolescent Safety: Independent Living
- Personal Security While in Public Places
- Adolescent Parenting Summary & Conclusion
- Adolescent Parenting: References & Resources
-
Questions and Answers
-
Book & Media Reviews
-
Links
-
Videos
- Feeling down? Let's talk - Prevention of suicide among adolescents
- Teen Drug Use: 2014 Monitoring The Future Survey Results
- NPW 2017: Suicide and Substance Use in Young People
- Are We Feeding Early Puberty
- Why Teens Are Attracted to Vaping
- Is My High School Student Ready for College? (And Is My College Student Ready to Go Back?)
- Advice to Parents | Drugs & College 101
- Teen Depression Screening
- Let’s talk about depression – focus on adolescents and young adults
- The Flu Shot- Who Really Gets It
-
46 more
- Child Development: Stepping Stones - Lesson 21: Adolescence: Biosocial Development
- Child Development: Stepping Stones - Lesson 22: Adolescence: Cognitive Development
- Child Development: Stepping Stones - Lesson 24: Adolescence: Summary
- Are Your Kids Addicted to Social Media?
- Is My Child Too Young to Get the HPV Vaccine?
- Do Boys Need the HPV Vaccine?
- The Perils of Adolescence
- Tackling Concussions
- Adolescent Risk-Takers: The Power of Peers
- Energy Drink Sparking More ER Visits
- Children and Social Media: What Every Parent Should Know
- Drugs: Shatter The Myths
- The Impact of Changing Social Behaviors on Teen Drug Use
- The Sound of Your Voice
- Teen Substance Use
- Youth Suicide Risk
- Take Healthy Habits to College
- What Boys Want to Know About Puberty
- Am I Normal (Girls and Puberty)
- Money Tips for Millennials
- E-Cigarette Use in Middle and High School Students
- Teens Using E-cigarettes More Likely to Start Smoking Tobacco
- Tips For Teens With Diabetes: Be Active
- Help Teens Lower Their Risk for Type 2 Diabetes
- Adolescence: Preparing for Lifelong Health and Wellness
- Back to School: A Good Night's Sleep
- How to Talk to Teens: A Developmental Approach
- Bedtime Wake Up Call
- Game Change! Focus on Families - Engaging Young Adults and Their Families
- Endocrine System
- Behavioral Health on College Campuses
- Notebook: Sexual Harassment
- Flu Shots: Young Adults Need Immunity
- Most Teens Need a Rest
- Screen Time vs. Bedtime
- What is Puberty? Decoding Puberty in Girls
- All About Boys Puberty
- Inside Puberty: What Are the Stages of Puberty?
- Puberty Explained - What Is Happening To Your Body?
- Another Reason for Teens to Eat Their Vegetables
- Dangers of E-Cigarettes
- HPV Vaccine: A Pediatrician’s Recommendation
- Healthy Weight
- Getting through to your teenager with ADHD
- Back-to-School: A Time to Think about Health & Academics
- Impact of Cyberbullying: Addressing the Needs of Children and Youth
Topics
-
Related Topic Centers
-
Addictions
-
Aging & Elder Care
-
Assessments & Interventions
-
Career & Workplace
-
Emotional Well-Being
-
Life Issues
-
Parenting & Child Care
-
Abuse
-
ADHD: Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
-
Adoption
-
Autism
-
Child & Adolescent Development: Overview
-
Child & Adolescent Development: Puberty
-
Child Development & Parenting: Early (3-7)
-
Child Development & Parenting: Infants (0-2)
-
Child Development & Parenting: Middle (8-11)
-
Child Development & Parenting:Adolescence (12-24)
-
Child Development Theory: Adolescence (12-24)
-
Child Development Theory: Middle Childhood (8-11)
-
Childhood Mental Disorders and Illnesses
-
Childhood Special Education
-
Divorce
-
Family & Relationship Issues
-
Intellectual Disabilities
-
Learning Disorders
-
Oppositional Defiant Disorder
-
Parenting
-
Self Esteem
-
-
Psychological Disorders
-
Anxiety Disorders
-
Bipolar Disorder
-
Conversion Disorders
-
Depression: Depression & Related Conditions
-
Dissociative Disorders
-
Domestic Violence and Rape
-
Eating Disorders
-
Impulse Control Disorders
-
Intellectual Disabilities
-
Mental Disorders
-
Obsessive-Compulsive Spectrum Disorders
-
Personality Disorders
-
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
-
Schizophrenia
-
Sexual Disorders
-
Somatic Symptom and Related Disorders
-
Suicide
-
Tourettes and other Tic Disorders
-