Campus Reset: Dynamic Planning and Response to SARS-CoV-2 Infections at the US Air Force Academy

Predominantly asymptomatic infections, such as those for SARS-CoV-2, require robust surveillance testing to identify people who are unknowingly spreading the virus. The US Air Force Academy returned to in-person classes for more than 4000 cadets aged 18-26 years during the fall 2020 semester to meet...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inPublic health reports (1974) Vol. 137; no. 3; pp. 431 - 436
Main Authors Sitko, John C., Almand, Erin A., Cullenbine, Christopher A., Steel, J. Jordan, Rohrer, Joseph W., Wickert, Douglas P., Hasstedt, Steven C.M.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01.05.2022
SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
Subjects
Air force
Case Study
Containment
COVID-19
COVID-19 - epidemiology
Disease control
Disease Outbreaks
Early warning systems
Emergency communications systems
Health surveillance
Humans
Infections
Leadership
Mathematical models
Public Health
Robustness (mathematics)
SARS-CoV-2
Severe acute respiratory syndrome
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2
Surveillance
Viral diseases
Viruses
United States > US
planning
SARS-CoV-2
infectious disease
pandemic response
public health
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Summary:Predominantly asymptomatic infections, such as those for SARS-CoV-2, require robust surveillance testing to identify people who are unknowingly spreading the virus. The US Air Force Academy returned to in-person classes for more than 4000 cadets aged 18-26 years during the fall 2020 semester to meet graduation and leadership training requirements. To enable this sustained cadet footprint, the institution developed a dynamic SARS-CoV-2 response plan using near–real-time data to inform decisions and trigger policies. A surveillance testing program based on mathematical modeling and a policy-driven campus reset option provided a scaled approach to react to SARS-CoV-2 conditions. This program adequately controlled the spread of the virus for the first 2 months of the academic semester but failed to predict or initially mitigate a significant outbreak in the second half of the semester. Although this approach did not completely eliminate SARS-CoV-2 infections in the population, it served as an early warning system to alert public health authorities to potential issues, which allowed timely responses while containment was still possible.
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ISSN:0033-3549
1468-2877
DOI:10.1177/00333549211065520