JAMA Network Open: How HBCU Used COVID Testing to Keep Campus Open

DOVER, Del., Dec. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- A new research study on how frequent COVID testing coupled with other safety measures enabled a historically Black college to safely remain open even as many other universities shut down their campuses has been published Monday by the JAMA Network Open, a member of JAMA Network.

Delaware State University partnered with nonprofit Testing for America as well as other public and private supporters to develop a multi-pronged approach to mitigating the spread of COVID so students could live and study on campus for the 2020-21 school year, according to the peer-reviewed JAMA Network Open report by Dr. Neil Hockstein, a Delaware physician and advisor to Testing for America.

Delaware State was among the first public universities to develop a comprehensive plan for a safe reopening even as the pandemic was disproportionately affecting communities of color. Enabling students to be on campus was essential to ensuring students would have access to housing, health care, food, Internet services, and other essential resources.

DSU's testing program consisted of twice-a-week PCR testing program for the 2,320 students, faculty and staff on campus from August 2020 to April 2021. Donations and grants to fund testing came from Illumina, Siemens, Cerner, Guardant Health, The Rockefeller Foundation and Ginkgo Bioworks, among others.

The effort to re-open was not without risk, Hockstein noted. There was not yet a vaccine in Fall 2020, and, in Delaware at the time, COVID infection rates were 46 percent higher among those identifying as Black than those identifying as white.

Testing was coupled with persistent messaging about shared responsibility, wearing masks, hand-washing and social distancing, and the outcome was a campus that remained safely open providing academic and basic needs security to the campus population – with no hospitalizations or deaths, according to the report. In fact, the average weekly test positivity rate on campus remained below 1% while the average was 5% percent statewide.

"The lessons from this study are important to consider today, as we continue to contend with new COVID variants, the potential for waning immunity, and breakthrough cases. All of these suggest testing remains essential to identifying and containing the spread of COVID," said Dr. Hockstein, of Testing for America.

The Biden administration has made testing a key pillar in its effort to contain the virus. Testing is now required for many forms of travel, dining, entertainment, and education.

Delaware State has continued regular testing on campus this year, using its own molecular lab opened in January 2021 in partnership with New Castle County. The lab now provides greater access to, and lowers the costs of, testing for students as well as Delaware residents, and provides a new site for hands-on experience for the university's scientists-in-training, as well as testing for Lincoln University, an HBCU in Pennsylvania.

"Our partnership with Testing for America and others was not only historic, but absolutely essential to our successful efforts to keep our entire community safe without sacrificing the educational opportunities and support our students need to change their life trajectories," said Delaware State University President Tony Allen. "I'm proud this report is being published so the efforts can serve as a model and a reminder of what can be accomplished through collaboration."

SOURCE Testing for America