StemCell Therapy

White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx visited Texas A&M Universitys campus Tuesday and praised its COVID-19 positivity rate, saying its one of the lowest shes seen, but is it really low?

The College Station flagship, which has more than 65,000 students and 10,160 faculty, reported that its weekly positivity rate for its random testing program, which includes student test results collected at special testing sites in the area, was 1.6 percent for the week ending on Sept. 12, according to A&Ms online dashboard. Tests in this program are performed specifically by its Student Health Services in efforts to identify students who are asymptomatic or where there are hotspots for transmission.

Texas A&Ms overall positivity rate, however which includes results of students, faculty and staff was around 10 percent. The college reports that tests factored into this postivity rate are conducted by both its health services and contracted company Curative Inc. within the Bryan-College Station area. The university also reported that more than 600 students and 23 faculty have tested positive this month, and 255 of these cases are still considered active as of Sept. 22.

A White House media representative did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Ten percent seems pretty high to me, said Peter Hotez, co-director of Texas Childrens Hospitals Center for Vaccine Development. Maybe she was looking at the wrong number.

Compared to other Texas colleges, like Rice and Baylor universities, both of which provide their positivity rates and cases online and test both asymptomatic and symptomatic individuals like Texas A&M, Texas A&M results are higher.

Birx also visited Auburn University, Louisiana State University, and Virginia Tech University. University of Kentucky, USC, Columbia

Rice, with about 8,000 students, reported a 0.09 percent positivity rate on its dashboard as of Thursday morning. The private Houston college has had 21 people test positive for the virus since Aug. 1 13 of them students and eight of them faculty or staff.

On HoustonChronicle.com: White House official Birx praises A&Ms low COVID-19 rates, vaccine manufacturing

Kevin Kirby, Rice vice president for administration, said positivity rates between different schools can vary depending on the testing strategy. For example, some schools test only those who are symptomatic, which can result in higher positivity rates. At Rice, officials test both those with and without symptoms, which can result in a lower positivity rate.

But Kirby adds that Rice has some structural advantages compared to many larger universities.

For one, Rice is situated next to the Texas Medical Center, which has been a crucial resource when it comes to testing and advice, Kirby said. Additionally, the opportunity and temptation of being around more people or to attend events, which can spread a virus, can be stronger at larger institutions. Rice also doesnt have fraternities and sororities, which Kirby believes has helped.

Rice has also aimed to implement best practices used at colleges around the country, including wearing masks, limiting class sizes, testing and prompt delivery of results. In addition, the college gives students and faculty the option of how they would like to engage in instruction and education, whether it be in-person, remote or hybrid.

Birx also visited Baylor University Monday. The Waco college boasts a 2.6 positivity rate as of Thursday, with 75 active COVID-19 cases reported within its community on Sept. 24 a drastic decline from the 477 cases reported on Sept. 3. Nearly all of its current active cases are students.

Baylor spokesman Jason Cook credits the private Baptist colleges decline to following the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions guidelines on contract tracing, maintain social distancing, and adamant enforcement of masks and face coverings.

Cook said many colleges went into the semester expecting that there would be a spike in cases at some point.

Our students have indicated they want to be on campus for the fall semester and that has been a great motivating factor, Cook said. That desire from students prompted Baylor officials to prepare the college on how it would manage a spike with preventative education, quarantine efforts, and mask wearing.

As a result, Cook said Baylor, which enrolled 19,297 students this fall, has not had any COVID-19 cases linked to classrooms.

A lot of it is the infrastructure of the institution leading into the semester coupled with the ability to institute behavior change, Cook said.

As for Birxs assessment of low COVID-10 positivity rates, Hotez questions whether it is a reliable statement.

The White House Coronavirus Taskforce is such an unreliable source of information, Hotez said. Theres often a heavy political spin on it. Its really hard to sort out whats right, and its getting worse now.

Hotez, who also serves as dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, has predicted that there will be a third peak or surge of the virus later this fall, following the first in April-May and the second peak in Southern states in July-August. The third peak, he said, could be the worst, contributed to colleges and schools reopening for on-campus learning.

Hotez said in some cases U.S. colleges and universities have opened in areas of high transmission and are a bit oblivious to the greater impact on the communities and states that theyre in.

In-person voting in November, considering the restrictions to mail-in voting, could also contribute to an uptick, Hotez said.

Without more awareness and strong leadership, especially in the Southern states, its not going to go well, he said.

brittany.britto@chron.com

Read more:
Dr. Birx praised Texas A&Ms low COVID rates. Its higher than both Rice and Baylor. - Houston Chronicle

This entry was posted on September 26, 2020 at 5:59 am and is filed under Preventative Medicine. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed. |