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Millions of students are returning to US universities in a vast unplanned pandemic experiment

Despite COVID-19 infections running rampant in many states, nearly 1,000 academic institutions are welcoming people back to their campuses.
By
  1. Emma Marris

    1. Emma Marris is a freelance writer in Klamath Falls, Oregon.

On 16 August, waves of eager students began moving into campus housing at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Besides dealing with tearful parents and finding sheets to fit non-standard dorm mattresses, undergraduates are also spitting into a tube for a quick COVID-19 test before they get their keys. It’s the first time of many: the university plans to test every student, staff member and faculty member twice a week.

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Nature 584, 510-512 (2020)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-02419-w

Updates & Corrections

  • Update 17 August 2020: This story has been updated to include the announcement by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to shift from in-person undergraduate classes to remote versions.

  • Update 27 August 2020: This story has been updated with more information about how universities are coping with outbreaks of COVID-19.

References

  1. Paltiel A. D., Zheng A. & Walensky R. P. JAMA Netw. Open 3, e2016818 (2020).

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  2. Ranoa, D. R. E. et al. Preprint at bioRxiv https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.06.18.159434 (2020).

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