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

Diana Rose E. Ranoa; Robin L. Holland; Fadi G. Alnaji; Kelsie J. Green; Leyi Wang; Richard L. Fredrickson; Tong Wang; George N. Wong; Johnny 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; P Mark Hennessy; Robert C. Parker; Edward Santos; Charles Brackett; Julie D. Steinman; Melvin R. Fenner; Kirstin Dohrer; Michael 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 Andres 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 H. Lore; Dustin L. Yocum; Neal J. Cohen; Jan E. Novakofski; Melanie J. Loots; Randy L. Ballard; Mark Band; Kayla M. Banks; Joseph D. Barnes; Iuliana Bentea; Jessica Black; Jeremy Busch; Abigail Conte; Madison Conte; Michael Curry; Jennifer Eardley; April Edwards; Therese 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 G. Mchenry; Agha 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 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 Watson; Karen C. White; Timothy L. Killeen; Robert J. Jones; Andreas C. Cangellaris; Susan A. Martinis; Awais Vaid; Christopher B. Brooke; Joseph T. Walsh; Ahmed Elbanna; William C. Sullivan; Rebecca L. Smith; Nigel Goldenfeld; Timothy M. Fan; Paul J. Hergenrother; Martin D. Burke

doi:10.1038/s41467-022-30833-3

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

Diana Rose E. Ranoa, Robin L. Holland, Fadi G. Alnaji, Kelsie J. Green, Leyi Wang, Richard L. Fredrickson, Tong Wang, George N. Wong, Johnny 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 SatheesanIsaac J. Galvan, Andrew Miller, Joseph Grohens, Todd J. Nelson, Mary P. Stevens, P Mark Hennessy, Robert C. Parker, Edward Santos, Charles Brackett, Julie D. Steinman, Melvin R. Fenner, Kirstin Dohrer, Michael 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 Andres 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 H. Lore, Dustin L. Yocum, Neal J. Cohen, Jan E. Novakofski, Melanie J. Loots, Randy L. Ballard, Mark Band, Kayla M. Banks, Joseph D. Barnes, Iuliana Bentea, Jessica Black, Jeremy Busch, Abigail Conte, Madison Conte, Michael Curry, Jennifer Eardley, April Edwards, Therese 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 G. Mchenry, Agha 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 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 Watson, Karen C. White, Timothy L. Killeen, Robert J. Jones, Andreas C. Cangellaris, Susan A. Martinis, Awais Vaid, Christopher B. Brooke, Joseph T. Walsh, Ahmed Elbanna, William C. Sullivan, Rebecca L. Smith, Nigel Goldenfeld, Timothy M. Fan, Paul J. Hergenrother, Martin D. Burke

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

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.

Original language	English (US)
Article number	3207
Journal	Nature communications
Volume	13
Issue number	1
Early online date	Jun 9 2022
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-30833-3
State	Published - Dec 2022

ASJC Scopus subject areas

General
Physics and Astronomy(all)
Chemistry(all)
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology(all)

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10.1038/s41467-022-30833-3License: CC BY

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Ranoa, D. R. E., Holland, R. L., Alnaji, F. G., Green, K. J., Wang, L., Fredrickson, R. L., Wang, T., Wong, G. N., Uelmen, J., Maslov, S., Weiner, Z. J., Tkachenko, A. V., Zhang, H., Liu, Z., Ibrahim, A., Patel, S. J., Paul, J. M., Vance, N. P., Gulick, J. G., ... Burke, M. D. (2022). Mitigation of SARS-CoV-2 transmission at a large public university. Nature communications, 13(1), Article 3207. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-30833-3

Ranoa, DRE, Holland, RL, Alnaji, FG, Green, KJ, Wang, L, Fredrickson, RL, Wang, T, Wong, GN, Uelmen, J, Maslov, S, Weiner, ZJ, Tkachenko, AV, Zhang, H, Liu, Z, Ibrahim, A, Patel, SJ, Paul, JM, Vance, NP, Gulick, JG, Satheesan, SP, Galvan, IJ, Miller, A, Grohens, J, Nelson, TJ, Stevens, MP, Hennessy, PM, Parker, RC, Santos, E, Brackett, C, Steinman, JD, Fenner, MR, Dohrer, K, Delorenzo, M, Wilhelm-barr, L, Brauer, BR, Best-popescu, C, Durack, G, Wetter, N, Kranz, DM, Breitbarth, J, Simpson, C, Pryde, JA, Kaler, RN, Harris, C, Vance, AC, Silotto, JL, Johnson, M , Valera, EA, Anton, PK, Mwilambwe, L, Bryan, SP, Stone, DS, Young, DB, Ward, WE, Lantz, J, Vozenilek, JA, Bashir, R , Moore, JS, Garg, M, Cooper, JC, Snyder, G, Lore, MH, Yocum, DL, Cohen, NJ , Novakofski, JE, Loots, MJ, Ballard, RL, Band, M , Banks, KM, Barnes, JD, Bentea, I, Black, J, Busch, J, Conte, A, Conte, M, Curry, M, Eardley, J, Edwards, A, Eggett, T, Fleurimont, J, Foster, D, Fouke, BW, Gallagher, N, Gastala, N, Genung, SA, Glueck, D, Gray, B, Greta, A, Healy, RM, Hetrick, A, Holterman, AA, Ismail, N, Jasenof, I, Kelly, P, Kielbasa, A, Kiesel, T, Kindle, LM, Lipking, RL, Manabe, YC, Mayes, J, Mcguffin, R, Mchenry, KG, Mirza, A, Moseley, J, Mostafa, HH, Mumford, M, Munoz, K, Murray, AD, Nolan, M, Parikh, NA, Pekosz, A, Pflugmacher, J, Phillips, JM, Pitts, C, Potter, MC, Quisenberry, J, Rear, J, Robinson, ML, Rosillo, E, Rye, LN, Sherwood, M, Simon, A, Singson, JM, Skadden, C, Skelton, TH, Smith, C, Stech, M, Thomas, R, Tomaszewski, MA, Tyburski, EA, Vanwingerden, S, Vlach, E, Watkins, RS, Watson, K, White, KC, Killeen, TL, Jones, RJ , Cangellaris, AC , Martinis, SA, Vaid, A, Brooke, CB, Walsh, JT, Elbanna, A , Sullivan, WC , Smith, RL , Goldenfeld, N , Fan, TM , Hergenrother, PJ & Burke, MD 2022, 'Mitigation of SARS-CoV-2 transmission at a large public university', Nature communications, vol. 13, no. 1, 3207. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-30833-3

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title = "Mitigation of SARS-CoV-2 transmission at a large public university",

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.",

author = "Ranoa, {Diana Rose E.} and Holland, {Robin L.} and Alnaji, {Fadi G.} and Green, {Kelsie J.} and Leyi Wang and Fredrickson, {Richard L.} and Tong Wang and Wong, {George N.} and Johnny Uelmen and Sergei Maslov and Weiner, {Zachary J.} and Tkachenko, {Alexei V.} and Hantao Zhang and Zhiru Liu and Ahmed Ibrahim and Patel, {Sanjay J.} and Paul, {John M.} and Vance, {Nickolas P.} and Gulick, {Joseph G.} and Satheesan, {Sandeep Puthanveetil} and Galvan, {Isaac J.} and Andrew Miller and Joseph Grohens and Nelson, {Todd J.} and Stevens, {Mary P.} and Hennessy, {P Mark} and Parker, {Robert C.} and Edward Santos and Charles Brackett and Steinman, {Julie D.} and Fenner, {Melvin R.} and Kirstin Dohrer and Michael Delorenzo and Laura Wilhelm-barr and Brauer, {Brian R.} and Catherine Best-popescu and Gary Durack and Nathan Wetter and Kranz, {David M.} and Jessica Breitbarth and Charlie Simpson and Pryde, {Julie A.} and Kaler, {Robin N.} and Chris Harris and Vance, {Allison C.} and Silotto, {Jodi L.} and Mark Johnson and Valera, {Enrique Andres} and Anton, {Patricia K.} and Lowa Mwilambwe and Bryan, {Stephen P.} and Stone, {Deborah S.} and Young, {Danita B.} and Ward, {Wanda E.} and John Lantz and Vozenilek, {John A.} and Rashid Bashir and Moore, {Jeffrey S.} and Mayank Garg and Cooper, {Julian C.} and Gillian Snyder and Lore, {Michelle H.} and Yocum, {Dustin L.} and Cohen, {Neal J.} and Novakofski, {Jan E.} and Loots, {Melanie J.} and Ballard, {Randy L.} and Mark Band and Banks, {Kayla M.} and Barnes, {Joseph D.} and Iuliana Bentea and Jessica Black and Jeremy Busch and Abigail Conte and Madison Conte and Michael Curry and Jennifer Eardley and April Edwards and Therese Eggett and Judes Fleurimont and Delaney Foster and Fouke, {Bruce W.} and Nicholas Gallagher and Nicole Gastala and Genung, {Scott A.} and Declan Glueck and Brittani Gray and Andrew Greta and Healy, {Robert M.} and Ashley Hetrick and Holterman, {Arianna A.} and Nahed Ismail and Ian Jasenof and Patrick Kelly and Aaron Kielbasa and Teresa Kiesel and Kindle, {Lorenzo M.} and Lipking, {Rhonda L.} and Manabe, {Yukari C.} and Mayes, {Jade{\' }} and Reubin Mcguffin and Mchenry, {Kenton G.} and Agha Mirza and Jada Moseley and Mostafa, {Heba H.} and Melody Mumford and Kathleen Munoz and Murray, {Arika D.} and Moira Nolan and Parikh, {Nil A.} and Andrew Pekosz and Janna Pflugmacher and Phillips, {Janise M.} and Collin Pitts and Potter, {Mark C.} and James Quisenberry and Janelle Rear and Robinson, {Matthew L.} and Edith Rosillo and Rye, {Leslie N.} and Maryellen Sherwood and Anna Simon and Singson, {Jamie M.} and Carly Skadden and Skelton, {Tina H.} and Charlie Smith and Mary Stech and Ryan Thomas and Tomaszewski, {Matthew A.} and Tyburski, {Erika A.} and Scott Vanwingerden and Evette Vlach and Watkins, {Ronald S.} and Karriem Watson and White, {Karen C.} and Killeen, {Timothy L.} and Jones, {Robert J.} and Cangellaris, {Andreas C.} and Martinis, {Susan A.} and Awais Vaid and Brooke, {Christopher B.} and Walsh, {Joseph T.} and Ahmed Elbanna and Sullivan, {William C.} and Smith, {Rebecca L.} and Nigel Goldenfeld and Fan, {Timothy M.} and Hergenrother, {Paul J.} and Burke, {Martin D.}",

note = "We gratefully acknowledge University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for funding. UIUC has also received support from CIMIT through the POCTRN program. CIMIT and POCTRN are supported by the RADx Tech program and have been funded in part with federal funds from the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, under Grant No. U54EB015408 awarded to R.L.S. With this work we would like to remember our colleague and co-author Joseph Gregory Gulick who passed away during the late stage of this project. He made critical contributions to the success of the SHIELD program. We would also like to acknowledge Michael Vincent and Diana Yates (Public Affairs, College of Media, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) for editorial support. This work was supported by the University of Illinois System Office, the Office of the Vice-Chancellor for Research and Innovation, the Grainger College of Engineering, and the Department of Physics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Z.J.W. is supported in part by the United States Department of Energy Computational Science Graduate Fellowship, provided under Grant No. DE-FG02-97ER25308. A.El. acknowledges partial support by NSF CAREER Award No. 1753249. This work made use of the Illinois Campus Cluster, a computing resource that is operated by the Illinois Campus Cluster Program (ICCP) in conjunction with the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) and which is supported by funds from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. This research was partially done at, and used resources of the Center for Functional Nanomaterials, which is a U.S. DOE Office of Science Facility, at Brookhaven National Laboratory under Contract No.~DE-SC0012704. This study was also partially funded by the National Institute for Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering grant number U54EB027690, part of the National Institutes of Health.",

year = "2022",

month = dec,

doi = "10.1038/s41467-022-30833-3",

language = "English (US)",

volume = "13",

journal = "Nature communications",

issn = "2041-1723",

publisher = "Nature Publishing Group",

number = "1",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Mitigation of SARS-CoV-2 transmission at a large public university

AU - Ranoa, Diana Rose E.

AU - Holland, Robin L.

AU - Alnaji, Fadi G.

AU - Green, Kelsie J.

AU - Wang, Leyi

AU - Fredrickson, Richard L.

AU - Wang, Tong

AU - Wong, George N.

AU - Uelmen, Johnny

AU - Maslov, Sergei

AU - Weiner, Zachary J.

AU - Tkachenko, Alexei V.

AU - Zhang, Hantao

AU - Liu, Zhiru

AU - Ibrahim, Ahmed

AU - Patel, Sanjay J.

AU - Paul, John M.

AU - Vance, Nickolas P.

AU - Gulick, Joseph G.

AU - Satheesan, Sandeep Puthanveetil

AU - Galvan, Isaac J.

AU - Miller, Andrew

AU - Grohens, Joseph

AU - Nelson, Todd J.

AU - Stevens, Mary P.

AU - Hennessy, P Mark

AU - Parker, Robert C.

AU - Santos, Edward

AU - Brackett, Charles

AU - Steinman, Julie D.

AU - Fenner, Melvin R.

AU - Dohrer, Kirstin

AU - Delorenzo, Michael

AU - Wilhelm-barr, Laura

AU - Brauer, Brian R.

AU - Best-popescu, Catherine

AU - Durack, Gary

AU - Wetter, Nathan

AU - Kranz, David M.

AU - Breitbarth, Jessica

AU - Simpson, Charlie

AU - Pryde, Julie A.

AU - Kaler, Robin N.

AU - Harris, Chris

AU - Vance, Allison C.

AU - Silotto, Jodi L.

AU - Johnson, Mark

AU - Valera, Enrique Andres

AU - Anton, Patricia K.

AU - Mwilambwe, Lowa

AU - Bryan, Stephen P.

AU - Stone, Deborah S.

AU - Young, Danita B.

AU - Ward, Wanda E.

AU - Lantz, John

AU - Vozenilek, John A.

AU - Bashir, Rashid

AU - Moore, Jeffrey S.

AU - Garg, Mayank

AU - Cooper, Julian C.

AU - Snyder, Gillian

AU - Lore, Michelle H.

AU - Yocum, Dustin L.

AU - Cohen, Neal J.

AU - Novakofski, Jan E.

AU - Loots, Melanie J.

AU - Ballard, Randy L.

AU - Band, Mark

AU - Banks, Kayla M.

AU - Barnes, Joseph D.

AU - Bentea, Iuliana

AU - Black, Jessica

AU - Busch, Jeremy

AU - Conte, Abigail

AU - Conte, Madison

AU - Curry, Michael

AU - Eardley, Jennifer

AU - Edwards, April

AU - Eggett, Therese

AU - Fleurimont, Judes

AU - Foster, Delaney

AU - Fouke, Bruce W.

AU - Gallagher, Nicholas

AU - Gastala, Nicole

AU - Genung, Scott A.

AU - Glueck, Declan

AU - Gray, Brittani

AU - Greta, Andrew

AU - Healy, Robert M.

AU - Hetrick, Ashley

AU - Holterman, Arianna A.

AU - Ismail, Nahed

AU - Jasenof, Ian

AU - Kelly, Patrick

AU - Kielbasa, Aaron

AU - Kiesel, Teresa

AU - Kindle, Lorenzo M.

AU - Lipking, Rhonda L.

AU - Manabe, Yukari C.

AU - Mayes, Jade ́

AU - Mcguffin, Reubin

AU - Mchenry, Kenton G.

AU - Mirza, Agha

AU - Moseley, Jada

AU - Mostafa, Heba H.

AU - Mumford, Melody

AU - Munoz, Kathleen

AU - Murray, Arika D.

AU - Nolan, Moira

AU - Parikh, Nil A.

AU - Pekosz, Andrew

AU - Pflugmacher, Janna

AU - Phillips, Janise M.

AU - Pitts, Collin

AU - Potter, Mark C.

AU - Quisenberry, James

AU - Rear, Janelle

AU - Robinson, Matthew L.

AU - Rosillo, Edith

AU - Rye, Leslie N.

AU - Sherwood, Maryellen

AU - Simon, Anna

AU - Singson, Jamie M.

AU - Skadden, Carly

AU - Skelton, Tina H.

AU - Smith, Charlie

AU - Stech, Mary

AU - Thomas, Ryan

AU - Tomaszewski, Matthew A.

AU - Tyburski, Erika A.

AU - Vanwingerden, Scott

AU - Vlach, Evette

AU - Watkins, Ronald S.

AU - Watson, Karriem

AU - White, Karen C.

AU - Killeen, Timothy L.

AU - Jones, Robert J.

AU - Cangellaris, Andreas C.

AU - Martinis, Susan A.

AU - Vaid, Awais

AU - Brooke, Christopher B.

AU - Walsh, Joseph T.

AU - Elbanna, Ahmed

AU - Sullivan, William C.

AU - Smith, Rebecca L.

AU - Goldenfeld, Nigel

AU - Fan, Timothy M.

AU - Hergenrother, Paul J.

AU - Burke, Martin D.

N1 - We gratefully acknowledge University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for funding. UIUC has also received support from CIMIT through the POCTRN program. CIMIT and POCTRN are supported by the RADx Tech program and have been funded in part with federal funds from the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, under Grant No. U54EB015408 awarded to R.L.S. With this work we would like to remember our colleague and co-author Joseph Gregory Gulick who passed away during the late stage of this project. He made critical contributions to the success of the SHIELD program. We would also like to acknowledge Michael Vincent and Diana Yates (Public Affairs, College of Media, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) for editorial support. This work was supported by the University of Illinois System Office, the Office of the Vice-Chancellor for Research and Innovation, the Grainger College of Engineering, and the Department of Physics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Z.J.W. is supported in part by the United States Department of Energy Computational Science Graduate Fellowship, provided under Grant No. DE-FG02-97ER25308. A.El. acknowledges partial support by NSF CAREER Award No. 1753249. This work made use of the Illinois Campus Cluster, a computing resource that is operated by the Illinois Campus Cluster Program (ICCP) in conjunction with the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) and which is supported by funds from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. This research was partially done at, and used resources of the Center for Functional Nanomaterials, which is a U.S. DOE Office of Science Facility, at Brookhaven National Laboratory under Contract No.~DE-SC0012704. This study was also partially funded by the National Institute for Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering grant number U54EB027690, part of the National Institutes of Health.

PY - 2022/12

Y1 - 2022/12

N2 - 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.

AB - 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.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85131707145&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85131707145&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1038/s41467-022-30833-3

DO - 10.1038/s41467-022-30833-3

M3 - Article

C2 - 35680861

SN - 2041-1723

VL - 13

JO - Nature communications

JF - Nature communications

IS - 1

M1 - 3207

ER -

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

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

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ASJC Scopus subject areas

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SHIELD program a model for effective pandemic management, data show

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