Observational studyPublic health2022
College reopening and community spread of COVID-19 in the United States.
Observational study in Public health, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
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Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed.
- Mental Health Screening Before and After the 2020 COVID-19 Closures of US College Campuses: A Cross-Sectional Comparison Using Natural Language Processing.Public health reports (Washington, D.C. : 1974) · 2026Article
- On campus dormitories as viral transmission sinks: Phylodynamic insights into student housing networks during the COVID-19 pandemic.PLoS pathogens · 2025Article
- The interaction between population age structure and policy interventions on the spread of COVID-19.Infectious Disease Modelling · 2025Article
- The emergence of SARS-CoV-2 lineages and associated saliva antibody responses among asymptomatic individuals in a large university community.PLoS pathogens · 2023Article
- A Proactive Testing Strategy to COVID-19 for Reopening University Campus during Omicron Wave in Korea: Ewha Safe Campus (ESC) Project.Ewha medical journal · 2023Article
- Prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection and associated risk factors: A testing program and nested case-control study conducted at Sapienza University of Rome between March and June 2021.Frontiers in public health · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveAfter months of lockdown due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the US postsecondary institutions implemented different instruction approaches to bring their students back for the Fall 2020 semester. Given public health concerns with reopening campuses, the study evaluated the impact of Fall 2020 college reopenings on COVID-19 transmission within the 632 US university counties. STUDY
designThis was a retrospective and observational study.
methodsBayesian Structural Time Series (BSTS) models were conducted to investigate the county-level COVID-19 case increases during the first 21 days of Fall 2020. The case increase for each county was estimated by comparing the observed time series (actual daily cases after school reopening) to the BSTS counterfactual time series (predictive daily cases if not reopening during the same time frame). We then used multilevel models to examine the associations between opening approaches (in-person, online, and hybrid) and county-level COVID-19 case increases within 21 and 42 days after classes began. The multigroup comparison between mask and non-mask-required states for these associations were also performed, given that the statewide guidelines might moderate the effects of college opening approaches.
resultsMore than 80% of our university county sample did not experience a significant case increase in Fall 2020. There were no significant relationships between opening approaches and community transmission in both mask-required and non-mask-required states. Only small metropolitan counties and counties with a non-community college or a higher percentage of student population showed significantly positive associations with the case number increase within the first 21-day period of Fall 2020. For the longer 42-day period, the counties with a higher percentage of the student population showed a significant case increase.
conclusionThe overall findings underscored the outcomes of US higher education reopening efforts when the vaccines were still under development in Fall 2020. For individual county results, we invite the college- and county-level decision-makers to interpret their results using our web application.
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