Students’ and staffs’ views and experiences of asymptomatic testing on a university campus during the COVID-19 pandemic in Scotland: a mixed methods study

Bauld, Linda; Street, Alice; Connelly, Roxanne; Bevan, Imogen; Corti, Yazmin Morlet; Baxter, Mats Stage; Christison, Sarah; Mulherin, Tamara; Sinclair, Lesley; Aitman, Tim

doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2022-065021

Cited by 2 publications

(4 citation statements)

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“…Several early mixedmethods studies in university settings suggested that some subjects receiving a negative result on a recent test indeed felt reassured and thus willing to liberalize their social interactions. [35][36][37][38][39]…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessment of the effectiveness of required weekly COVID-19 surveillance antigen testing at a university

Ryan

2023

Preprint

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ObjectivesTo mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic, many institutions implemented a regimen of periodic required testing, irrespective of symptoms. The effectiveness of this”surveillance testing” requires assessment.MethodsI fit a zero-inflated negative binomial model to COVID-19 testing and case investigation data between 1 November 2020 and 15 May 2021, from young adult subjects in one community. I compared the duration of symptoms at time of specimen collection in those diagnosed via (1) surveillance testing at a university, (2) the same university’s student health services, and (3) all other testing venues.ResultsThe data comprised 2926 records: 393 from surveillance testing, 493 from student health service, and 2040 from other venues. About 65% of people with COVID-19 detected via surveillance testing were already symptomatic at time of specimen collection.Predicted mean duration of pre-testing symptoms was 1.7 days (95% CI 1.59 to 1.84) for the community, 1.81 days (95% CI 1.62 to 1.99) for surveillance, and 2 days (95% CI 1.83 to 2.16) for student health service. The modelled “inflated” proportions of asymptomatic subjects from the surveillance stream and the other/community stream were comparable (odds ratio 0.95, p = 0.7709). Comparing surveillance testing with the student health service, the proportion of “excess” zero symptom durations was signficantly higher in the former (Chi-square = 12.08, p = 0.0005)ConclusionsSurveillance testing at a university detected 393 people with COVID-19, but no earlier in their trajectory than similar-aged people detected in the broader community. This casts some doubt on the public health value of such programs, which tend to be labor-intensive and expensive.2Three-question summary boxWhat is the current understanding of this subject?Assessments of long-term operational effectiveness of COVID-19 “surveillance testing” have not been published.What does this report add to the literature?During the 2020-2021 academic year at one university, people with COVID-19 detected via compulsory weekly surveillance antigen testing were equally likely to be symptomatic at time of detection, and for just as long, as similar-aged people detected via testing venues in the community.What are the implications for public health practice?Surveillance testing programs during the pandemic consumed a large amount of time, money, and effort. In future respiratory pandemics, resources might be better devoted to other mitigation measures.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessment of the effectiveness of required weekly COVID-19 surveillance antigen testing at a university

Ryan

2023

Preprint

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“…We draw on 48 interviews with TestEd participants, carried out between May 2021 and February 2022 as part of the wider TestEd project, a collaboration between biomedical, physical, clinical and social scientists along with health economists. The social science team, made up of behavioral scientists, epidemiologists, sociologists and anthropologists, had the primary objective of conducting surveys and interviews to examine the public health aspects of COVID-19 testing, including facilitators and barriers to testing, and adherence with public health guidelines, in particular those surrounding self-isolation (Bauld et al 2023 ). Interviews took place remotely via Microsoft Teams, Zoom, or phone call due to COVID-19 restrictions.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Participants were similarly interested in the success of TestEd in picking up cases (see Bauld et al 2023 ). Some referred to the visual presence of vials at testing booths as suggestive of testing levels and uptake ( Figure 2 ).…”

Section: Testing For ‘Publics’ and ‘Communities’mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Who We Test For: Aligning Relational and Public Health Responsibilities in COVID-19 Testing in Scotland

Bevan,

Bauld,

Street

2024

Medical Anthropology

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COVID-19 testing programs in the UK often called on people to test to “protect others.” In this article we explore motivations to test and the relationships to “others” involved in an asymptomatic testing program at a Scottish university. We show that participants engaged with testing as a relational technology, through which they navigated multiple overlapping responsibilities to kin, colleagues, flatmates, strangers, and to more diffuse publics. We argue that the success of testing as a technique of governance depends not only on the production of disciplined selves, but also on the program’s capacity to align interpersonal and public scales of responsibility.

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Students’ and staffs’ views and experiences of asymptomatic testing on a university campus during the COVID-19 pandemic in Scotland: a mixed methods study

Cited by 2 publications

References 25 publications

Assessment of the effectiveness of required weekly COVID-19 surveillance antigen testing at a university

Assessment of the effectiveness of required weekly COVID-19 surveillance antigen testing at a university

Who We Test For: Aligning Relational and Public Health Responsibilities in COVID-19 Testing in Scotland

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