This study looks closely at the experience of 30 colleges and universities in North America about their COVID- testing regime and experience. The study helps its readers to answer questions such as: How often are students tested? Are student athletes tested more frequently and, if so, how often? How many colleges are sampling wastewater to discover possible COVID clusters before they infect much larger populations? What are overall test positivity rates and how do they vary by type of college and other factors? What policies have colleges developed on testing and how are they implementing these policies? How much buy in from students are they getting and what happens to students who do not obey testing protocols?
Just a few of this 28-page report’s many findings are that:
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40% of the research universities in the sample were using wastewater testing to find COVID clusters before they get out of control.
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Doctoral institutions in the sample had particularly high COVID test positive rates while research universities had particularly low rates.
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Random testing was common only among colleges at which more than 60% of students lived on campus in dorms.
Data in the report is broken out by size and type of college, by tuition level, for public and private colleges, and for variables such as the percentage of students living in school supplied dormitories and extent of current use of online education. Thirty colleges from the USA and Canada contributed data and commentary for the study.