Department of Public Health Sciences, University of California Davis, Davis, California, United States of America.
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, California, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2021 Nov 4;16(11):e0258738. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0258738. eCollection 2021.
Epidemics of COVID-19 in student populations at universities were a key concern for the 2020-2021 school year. The University of California (UC) System developed a set of recommendations to reduce campus infection rates. SARS-CoV-2 test results are summarized for the ten UC campuses during the Fall 2020 term.
UC mitigation efforts included protocols for the arrival of students living on-campus students, non-pharmaceutical interventions, daily symptom monitoring, symptomatic testing, asymptomatic surveillance testing, isolation and quarantine protocols, student ambassador programs for health education, campus health and safety pledges, and lowered density of on-campus student housing. We used data from UC campuses, the UC Health-California Department of Public Health Data Modeling Consortium, and the U.S. Census to estimate the proportion of each campus' student populations that tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 and compared it to the fraction individuals aged 20-29 years who tested positive in their respective counties.
SARS-CoV-2 cases in campus populations were generally low in September and October 2020, but increased in November and especially December, and were highest in early to mid-January 2021, mirroring case trajectories in their respective counties. Many students were infected during the Thanksgiving and winter holiday recesses and were detected as cases upon returning to campus. The proportion of students who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 during Fall 2020 ranged from 1.2% to 5.2% for students living on campus and was similar to students living off campus. For most UC campuses the proportion of students testing positive was lower than that for the 20-29-year-old population in which campuses were located.
The layered mitigation approach used on UC campuses, informed by public health science and augmented perhaps by a more compliant population, likely minimized campus transmission and outbreaks and limited transmission to surrounding communities. University policies that include these mitigation efforts in Fall 2020 along with SARS-CoV-2 vaccination, may alleviate some local concerns about college students returning to communities and facilitate resumption of normal campus operations and in-person instruction.
2020-2021 学年，大学校园内的 COVID-19 疫情是学生群体的主要关注点。加利福尼亚大学（UC）系统制定了一系列建议，以降低校园感染率。总结了 2020 年秋季十个 UC 校区的 SARS-CoV-2 检测结果。
UC 缓解措施包括针对住校学生抵达的协议、非药物干预、每日症状监测、有症状检测、无症状监测检测、隔离和检疫协议、学生健康大使计划、校园健康和安全承诺，以及降低校内学生住房密度。我们使用了来自 UC 校区的数据、UC 健康-加利福尼亚州公共卫生部数据建模联盟以及美国人口普查数据，估计了每个校区学生群体中 SARS-CoV-2 检测呈阳性的比例，并将其与各自县 20-29 岁人群中检测呈阳性的个体比例进行了比较。
2020 年 9 月和 10 月，校园人群中的 SARS-CoV-2 病例通常较低，但 11 月和 12 月有所增加，尤其是 2021 年 1 月初达到高峰，与各自县的病例轨迹相吻合。许多学生在感恩节和寒假期间被感染，并在返回校园时被检测为病例。2020 年秋季，住校学生 SARS-CoV-2 检测呈阳性的比例为 1.2%至 5.2%，与不住校学生相似。对于大多数 UC 校区，检测呈阳性的学生比例低于所在校区 20-29 岁人群的比例。
UC 校区使用的分层缓解方法，以公共卫生科学为依据，并可能通过更顺从的人群得到加强，这可能最大限度地减少了校园传播和疫情爆发，并限制了传播到周边社区。2020 年秋季，大学政策将这些缓解措施与 SARS-CoV-2 疫苗接种结合起来，可能会减轻一些关于大学生返回社区的担忧，并促进校园正常运营和面对面教学的恢复。
