Cases at college campuses driving statewide increase
As the University of Connecticut started welcoming students back to school in mid-August, Mansfield’s COVID-19 numbers were low by any metric. From March to mid-August, the town of 25,000 had recorded only 42 coronavirus cases.
But in the past month, that number has more than quintupled to 220 cases, with nearly all of those new cases reported from within the UConn student body. In a bid to contain the spread, an entire dorm was locked down, then a bar was shuttered.
Now an off-campus apartment complex in Storrs Center is under quarantine, and on Saturday school officials announced they were quarantining a second dorm — Eddy Hall, where 96 students currently live, because they had uncovered four COVID cases.
A month after many Connecticut college students returned to school, COVID-19 cases at UConn and some other university campuses have played a significant role in the state’s recent uptick in coronavirus infections — a development many feared with the resumption of classes.
Gov. Ned Lamont on Thursday noted “concerning” trends
in Connecticut’s COVID-19 numbers, as the state’s rate of positive tests ticked up and the number of hospitalized patients climbed to its highest level in more than two months.
“There’s been a number of cases at UConn; there’s been some at Central,” the state’s chief operating officer, Josh Geballe, said Thursday, discussing the state’s recent increase in cases. “Those seem contained at this point — I think the administrations there have taken all the right actions — but those do drive case numbers.”
But the experience has differed from one campus to the next, and from one college town to another.
In Mansfield, significant coronavirus outbreaks at UConn have yet to spill over into the broader community. But in New Britain, cases among Central Connecticut State students help explain a recent uptick citywide. In Middletown, New Haven and elsewhere, cases have remained low on local campuses, resulting in no apparent spike in cases. And in Windham, the town has recorded an uptick in coronavirus cases even while Eastern Connecticut State has seen a relatively low number of cases.
Due in part to wide variations in testing standards from school to school, the return to college campuses in Connecticut has resulted in a patchwork of issues — met by a similar patchwork of solutions.
Concern over community spread
Statewide, after weeks of positive test rates below the gold standard of 1 percent, Connecticut has seen its positivity rate climb over the past week and a half, while hospitalizations have reached higher levels than recorded since July.
Those increases have coincided with the reopening of college campuses. And while returning college students certainly do not account for the entirety of the state’s increased numbers, the cases identified among university students and staff have undoubtedly contributed to the Connecticut’s coronavirus uptick.
UConn’s cases have nearly single-handedly pushed Tolland County into one of the highest per capita infection rates in the state. From Aug. 14 to Sept. 17, Tolland County reported 233 new coronavirus cases — in about the same period, UConn reported well over 250 cases, although some of those cases were likely reported in students’ hometowns outside of Tolland County.
On Saturday, UConn reported 12 new cases, three of them from Eddy Hall prompting the quarantining of all 96 students who live there.
“Over the course of the past week, four positive COVID-19 cases have been identified among Eddy residents. This rate is disproportionate to the positive cases we have seen among other residential locations and cause for concern,” Medical Director Dr. Elyssa Eror wrote. The students could be quarantined for more than 14 days.
Before UConn students returned to campus, local officials worried that coronavirus-positive students — particularly those who
were asymptomatic — would bring the virus into Mansfield and then spread it to year-round residents, including elderly residents.
That concern drove Mansfield officials to push for additional restrictions on gatherings within the town. Mansfield officials, along with officials from Windham and West Hartford, lobbied the state for approval to decrease the maximum size of gatherings allowed, but Lamont’s administration never formally responded to that request.
However, so far Mansfield’s fears haven’t materialized. The town hasn’t seen significant COVID-19 spread spilling over from the UConn campus, according to Eastern Highlands Health Director Robert Miller.
“We’re seeing a very low prevalence of cases among Mansfield residents,” Miller said. “We’re not seeing any indication, based on the current data, that there’s an increased risk of spread among [the] non-student population in the Mansfield area.”
CCSU, meanwhile, has seen 19 cases among residential students and staff over the past week and currently has 15 students in isolation and another 15 under supervision in quarantine. In total, CCSU has recorded more than 60 cases among students, faculty and staff
since reopening its campus in mid-August, behind only UConn among Connecticut colleges that have reported numbers regularly.
Unlike UConn, CCSU has been part of a broader uptick in its surrounding community, as cases have risen in New Britain. The city has recorded more than 100 cases over the past two weeks, according to state numbers, and had the second most cases of any Connecticut municipality between Aug. 30 and Sept. 12.
Sergio Lupo, the city’s health director said “there is a concern” about CCSU students who commute from surrounding towns or live off-campus in New Britain. He said health department officials were meeting with CCSU regularly to discuss containment strategy.
Early in the semester, CCSU President Zulma R. Toro threatened expulsions if students didn’t follow safety protocols. In early September, a popular bar near campus was shut down for two weeks after being linked to a cluster of cases.
Additionally, the school has increased the number of residential students tested regularly and offered one-time pop-up testing for students and faculty on campus. After initially testing 5% to 10% of students weekly, CCSU recently announced it would now test 25%, in hopes of catching more cases.
Elsewhere, Sacred Heart University has asked students living in Bridgeport to remain off campus due to a cluster of cases, while Connecticut College has sent home students following unsanctioned social gatherings.
In Windham, home to Eastern Connecticut State, COVID-19 numbers have spiked in recent days. After 330 cases over the first six months of the pandemic, Windham has reported more than 50 in the past two weeks.
ECSU itself has not seen a large number of coronavirus cases — one among on-campus students, six among commuter students — but the North Central District health director, Patrice Sulik, said the school may have played a role in the town’s cases.
“We are are seeing, as expected, activity from the Eastern students,” Sulik said. “And we’re working really closely with the college and the public school system and others to jump on it and nip it in the bud.”
Disparities in testing
Other college towns in Connecticut have not seen an increase in coronavirus cases.
Middletown, home to Wesleyan, and New Haven, home to Yale and other colleges, have both dodged outbreaks. Those campuses have also implemented aggressive testing programs, which may help at least in part to explain their low case numbers.
While many colleges and universities are only testing random samples of their students or those with COVID-19 symptoms, Yale and Wesleyan have both committed to testing all students and staff every week. Officials say that allows them to catch cases early, before the virus has a chance to spread through the campus and town populations.
From Sept. 9 to 15, Yale tested 4,931 students and 1,119 faculty and staff, discovering only three cases. The school has recorded 16 total cases since the start of August, according to its official dashboard.
Wesleyan has found similar success, testing 3,493 students and employees and finding only six total cases.
UConn has tested less aggressively than Wesleyan and Yale but still more than other state schools. The university has also installed pumps across campus and is testing wastewater to determine if there is a coronavirus presence in a particular dorm or classroom building.
But even some schools with limited COVID-19 testing have so far avoided cases. In addition to Yale, New Haven’s other colleges — Southern Connecticut State and Albertus Magnus — have similarly kept their numbers low, despite less ambitious testing programs.
“We have a task force ready to respond, but so far we have received zero complaints,” New Haven Health Director Maritza Bond said. “There are inconsistencies across the state as to what each college is doing as far as testing and who is getting tested.”
Other colleges that have largely avoided significant outbreaks include:
Trinity College, which has recorded 17 cases since mid-August, though 15 in the past two weeks.
The University of Hartford, which also had 17 total cases since August, as of Tuesday.
The University of New Haven, which has recorded two cases.
Fairfield University, which had seven total cases as of Sept. 10.
The University of Bridgeport, which had recorded one case as of Tuesday.
Quinnipiac University, which has not yet recorded a positive test.