By Henry T. Walke, Margaret A. Honein, and Robert R. Redfield, JAMA Network, September 29, 2020
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic continues to present public health and societal challenges worldwide. Concerted public health efforts in the US at the local, state, territorial, national, and tribal levels remain paramount to protecting the population, particularly those at greatest risk for severe illness and death. Throughout the summer months, younger people accounted increasingly for confirmed severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infections in all US regions, with highest incidence among young adults aged 20 through 29 years during June to August, and with young adults (20-39 years) contributing to the large regional increases in the southern US during June 2020.
At the beginning of the fall of 2020, the opening of colleges and universities poses new challenges and accompanying risks for transmission on campuses and in their surrounding communities. Although the risk of severe health outcomes from COVID-19 in young adults without underlying health conditions is relatively low, faculty, university staff, and close contacts of college students at home and in the community might be at a considerably higher risk for severe illness and death if they were to become infected.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) continues to develop and disseminate data-driven guidance to support these institutions, students, staff, their families, and surrounding communities. In advance of the fall 2020 term, colleges and universities across the nation implemented a variety of COVID-19 prevention practices, mitigation efforts, and testing strategies. However, to date little evidence exists from the college setting to demonstrate the effects of many of the specific efforts employed. Although the situation is dynamic, a Davidson College initiative tracking data on nearly 3000 US colleges reports that as of September 9, 2020, about 4% of colleges are conducting fully in-person and 23% primarily in-person instruction, with the remaining using hybrid models or teaching primarily or fully online.
Comments (0)