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COVID-19 outbreak at University of Chicago tied to spring break travel by unvaccinated students, new CDC report says

Chicago Tribune - 9/2/2021

As Labor Day weekend looms for a nation grappling with a more contagious coronavirus variant, public health officials are citing a new report on a post-spring break outbreak among University of Chicago students to discourage travel.

The report, published Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, uses interviews from 140 of the 158 undergraduate students at the Hyde Park campus who were diagnosed with COVID-19 between March 15 and May 3. After spring break, which took place the last week of March, the cases had “increased rapidly” even as the university cracked down via multiple mitigation efforts — including a stay-at-home directive, the report states.

About 64% of students who responded said they had traveled outside the city for spring break, while 41% had socialized indoors without masks. Only three were fully vaccinated, as most young adults in Chicago were not eligible for the shot until later in April.

A spokeswoman with U. of C. did not immediately return a request for comment on Thursday but a source with knowledge of the study confirmed its subject was U. of C.

The Chicago Department of Public Health, listed as a co-author in the study, noted on Twitter that the findings reinforce the need to follow its travel advisory, which now recommends all unvaccinated travelers quarantine after arriving from any state except Vermont, even if they test negative for COVID-19. The CDC has advised unvaccinated people against travel entirely over Labor Day weekend.

The stricter CDPH guidance, though still optional, was needed after the delta variant fueled a summer surge in Chicago and across the U.S. that has yet to ebb, city officials said. And though by now U. of C. and several other universities in the city have required vaccines for their students and staff — a mandate Illinois Gov. J.B Pritzker has extended to all colleges statewide — about 44% of the city’s total population has yet not been fully vaccinated.

“In settings where not everyone is fully vaccinated or where students have contact with community members who are not fully vaccinated, colleges and universities can encourage unvaccinated students to refrain from travel,” the CDC report instructs.

The University of Chicago outbreak occurred even as the school urged students to avoid travel and kept dormitories open during spring break. But following the high number of cases afterward, U. of C. implemented a stay-at-home order for students for about two weeks in early April. Classes went remote during that period and the university prohibited unmasked gatherings as the city and state faced a third COVID-19 wave fueled by younger adults that spring.

Initially, university leaders linked the surge to off-campus fraternity parties but clarified later in April that there were other sources such as smaller gatherings and spring break travel. Thursday’s CDC report found only three infected students had reported attending a large party, while 57 said they went to smaller gatherings, shared meals or attended group study sessions without masks.

After researchers analyzed specimens from 120 infected students, several lineages of the coronavirus were identified, including one not prevalent in Chicago before or after the outbreak, that were “possibly driven by student travel,” the report says.

The destinations of the 89 students who traveled outside of Chicago during spring break spanned seven countries and 23 states, with the most-visited being California, Colorado, Florida and New York. Students most commonly reported traveling for vacation purposes.

Authors noted some students refused to be interviewed, while others falsely claimed they had not traveled.

“These recommendations are especially important given the rapid spread of the B.1.617.2 (delta) variant of concern,” the report says. “Unvaccinated persons traveling during a university break and subsequent socializing among students resulted in multiple clusters of COVID-19.”

ayin@chicagotribune.com

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