https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-per...allow-74-college-students-end-isolation-early
Study: Rapid COVID tests allow up to 74% of college students end isolation early
Filed Under:
COVID-19
According to a study published yesterday in Emerging Infectious Diseases from researchers at Yale University, exit COVID-19 rapid antigen tests (RATs) enabled 53% to 74% of college students to leave isolation early when they began isolation at the time of the first positive test, but 15% to 22% remained positive beyond the recommended isolation period.
The study included 323 infected college students living in university housing; undergraduate students were required to screen upon arrival on campus and then twice weekly on designated days. Testing took place between Jan 1 and Feb 11, 2022, during the Omicron surge in the United States.
Positive students were expected to isolate for 10 days, or 5 days if they received a negative RAT, following new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines. Upon testing negative, students ended isolation but continued mandatory masking until day 10.
"We found a day 5 positivity of 47% in the twice-weekly screening group and 26%–28% in the less frequently screened groups," the authors wrote.
Negative RAT tests on day 5 allowed 78% to 85% of students to confidently leave isolation, the authors said. The percentage remaining positive dropped to 6% to 8% on day 7.
Unexpectedly, the authors found that students who had received three or more COVID-19 vaccine doses had longer RAT positivity duration than students with only the primary series. The authors posit this could be a finding based solely on the transmissibility of the Omicron variant.
Study: Rapid COVID tests allow up to 74% of college students end isolation early
Filed Under:
COVID-19
According to a study published yesterday in Emerging Infectious Diseases from researchers at Yale University, exit COVID-19 rapid antigen tests (RATs) enabled 53% to 74% of college students to leave isolation early when they began isolation at the time of the first positive test, but 15% to 22% remained positive beyond the recommended isolation period.
The study included 323 infected college students living in university housing; undergraduate students were required to screen upon arrival on campus and then twice weekly on designated days. Testing took place between Jan 1 and Feb 11, 2022, during the Omicron surge in the United States.
Positive students were expected to isolate for 10 days, or 5 days if they received a negative RAT, following new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines. Upon testing negative, students ended isolation but continued mandatory masking until day 10.
"We found a day 5 positivity of 47% in the twice-weekly screening group and 26%–28% in the less frequently screened groups," the authors wrote.
Negative RAT tests on day 5 allowed 78% to 85% of students to confidently leave isolation, the authors said. The percentage remaining positive dropped to 6% to 8% on day 7.
Unexpectedly, the authors found that students who had received three or more COVID-19 vaccine doses had longer RAT positivity duration than students with only the primary series. The authors posit this could be a finding based solely on the transmissibility of the Omicron variant.