Surveillance-to-Diagnostic Testing Program for Asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 Infections on a Large, Urban Campus in Fall 2020.

BACKGROUND

Six months into the COVID-19 pandemic, college campuses faced uncertainty regarding the likely prevalence and spread of disease, necessitating large-scale testing to help guide policy following re-entry.

METHODS

A SARS-CoV-2 testing program combining pooled saliva sample surveillance leading to diagnosis and intervention surveyed over 112,000 samples from 18,029 students, staff and faculty, as part of integrative efforts to mitigate transmission at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Fall 2020.

RESULTS

Cumulatively, we confirmed 1,508 individuals diagnostically, 62% of these through the surveillance program and the remainder through diagnostic tests of symptomatic individuals administered on or off campus. The total strategy, including intensification of testing given case clusters early in the semester, was associated with reduced transmission following rapid case increases upon entry in Fall semester in August 2020, again in early November 2020, and upon re-entry for Spring semester in January 2021. During the Fall semester daily asymptomatic test positivity initially peaked at 4.1% but fell below 0.5% by mid-semester, averaging 0.84% across the Fall semester, with similar levels of control in Spring 2021.

CONCLUSIONS

Owing to broad adoption by the campus community, we estimate that the program protected higher risk staff and faculty while allowing some normalization of education and research activities.