Leaders & Best: Purdue has tested 30,117 students for COVID with a 0.74% positive rate
In the "why can't we have nice things" department, Purdue has managed to test 30,117 students for COVID-19 prior to the fall semester. Indeed, students are required to have a negative COVID-19 test before arrival on campus:
As part of the Protect Purdue Plan, all Purdue students are required to have a negative COVID-19 test before arrival on campus for the fall semester, or if recently tested positive, have documentation from the Protect Purdue Health Center that they have completed a 10-day isolation after the test (asymptomatic) or 10 days after symptom onset before arriving on campus.
This contrasts starkly with UNC, which has only tested 954 students prior to campus arrival:
In just the past week (Aug. 10-16), we have seen the COVID-19 positivity rate rise from 2.8% to 13.6% at Campus Health. As of this morning, we have tested 954 students and have 177 in isolation and 349 in quarantine, both on and off campus. So far, we have been fortunate that most students who have tested positive have demonstrated mild symptoms.
August 20th, 2020 at 3:08 PM ^
Congrats on the testing, but please never give Purdue a "Leaders & Best" again.
August 20th, 2020 at 5:13 PM ^
Agreed. That belongs to my alum, CMU.
(ducks and runs)
August 20th, 2020 at 3:10 PM ^
Good to see such low numbers prior to arrival. But as we saw with ND, what really matters is what those numbers look like 2/3 weeks into the school year when students have been on campus together.
August 20th, 2020 at 3:40 PM ^
Meanwhile, the 3rd Indiana university is at about 1% pre-start:
Like ND there is nowhere to go but up!
August 20th, 2020 at 4:46 PM ^
Less than a third of the students have been tested, though. They just shut off access to IU's online systems to students who haven't been tested. Large parties have already started, as they stretched out move-in, but did not give the kids anything to do.
August 20th, 2020 at 5:16 PM ^
Ball State kids are starting to move in today. They're supposed to be tested no more than 7 days before arriving. Of course, there was no requirement to quarantine between testing and moving, so I'm not sure how much good that will do.
August 20th, 2020 at 3:14 PM ^
That's nice.
What about next week?
And after Labor Day?
And the following week?
And so on?
August 20th, 2020 at 6:49 PM ^
30,110 X 0.0074 = ~223 positive students, not that they weren’t quarantined and kept off campus. But, it’s easy to postulate that there were false negatives (can’t put a estimate of how many, because of the dependency on specific test and timing) and 0.74% might be a conservative estimate. But if you have 200 kids infected, all who think they just tested negative, and a target-rich environment of 30,000 kids (not including Purdue employees or subtracting out the kids who have had it and recovered, maybe that’s a wash, too?), you’re going have big problems in a couple of weeks.
August 20th, 2020 at 3:18 PM ^
Hopefully they funneled some money into their visitor locker room and on-site medical facility at Ross-Ade.
August 20th, 2020 at 3:20 PM ^
Yes. Is that you Wilton - impersonating Mike Hart?
August 20th, 2020 at 3:20 PM ^
This is what Notre dame tried
they had 33 positive cases out of 11000 before students came to campus
they have had over 300 positives in the 8 days
August 20th, 2020 at 3:21 PM ^
To be fair it is Purdue and a large percentage of their engineering students have been practicing social distancing since well before Covid appeared.
August 20th, 2020 at 3:22 PM ^
The major flaw with all these "negative test before reporting to campus" policies is the lag from test to results and then ultimately getting to campus. Can Purdue guarantee that kids aren't taking the test and then having a going back to school party shortly before leaving for school? Nope, and that possibility makes the whole procedure fairly useless. In fact, I could see the rationale for not doing it. The tests may be giving kids a false sense of security that the campus is a virus free community.
August 20th, 2020 at 4:50 PM ^
Yep, unless you combine an initial negative test on campus with a significant on campus quarantine followed by a second negative test there's no way to insure the initial testing protocol has meaning.
August 20th, 2020 at 3:27 PM ^
Leaders and best?
August 20th, 2020 at 3:27 PM ^
This is the same route that Notre Dame went with and it hasn't worked well for them. A negative test doesn't mean you'll never get the virus, simply that you don't have it at that moment.
Unless they're constantly testing every single student, there's no real benefit to keep testing before they arrive as they still could get the virus and have it spread.
August 20th, 2020 at 5:39 PM ^
It's obviously not fool proof but it's better than nothing which is what UNC did.
August 20th, 2020 at 3:31 PM ^
"Pur-Due to complications from the Covid-19 virus, football season in cancelled."
August 20th, 2020 at 3:35 PM ^
UNC: "most" have demonstrated mild symptoms?
Would be helpful if they could quantify that
August 20th, 2020 at 3:40 PM ^
Purdon't have coronavirus.
August 20th, 2020 at 3:47 PM ^
Further proof that consuming enough boilermakers will kill anything.
August 20th, 2020 at 3:50 PM ^
Really cool that Purdue sent at home test kits to almost all their students. Every University should be doing this. What is Michigan doing? Also, curious if everyone in America were to get tested if we would have roughly a similar percentage of infections.
August 20th, 2020 at 4:08 PM ^
Nothing. We're doing nothing.
Also, if you could somehow test the entire population simultaneously and then force those that test positive to quarantine, this thing would be over in a month.
August 20th, 2020 at 4:20 PM ^
No, it wouldn’t. Because you’d have to enforce quarantines on millions of people for at least a month. And that is impossible, even if we used the military and Gestapo tactics. Plus, you’d have some percentage of asymptomatic false negatives spreading the virus and creating the conditions for new outbreaks once the month was up. Plus there are, you know, borders and other countries and such...
August 20th, 2020 at 4:28 PM ^
Australia is doing it quite well, including sending police to check on people who have tested positive that they are staying home, and fining them if they aren't.
The thing about your freedom is that it's supposed to end when it infringes on mine. But we've forgotten that part and we think we can just do whatever the fuck we want. And now we have a raging epidemic on our hands that could have been under control by now.
August 21st, 2020 at 7:38 AM ^
Australia is 1/11 of the size of the United States and keep in mind what they're doing there first citizens is barbaric
August 20th, 2020 at 7:05 PM ^
Valid points by the insane clown. Somebody get that man a Faygo.
August 20th, 2020 at 5:07 PM ^
I mean, it can take up to 9 days for a test pick up on the virus once you've been exposed so the test, trace, quarantine method is great but it won't catch 100% unfortunately. Doesn't mean we shouldn't try our hardest to do that though.
August 21st, 2020 at 7:33 AM ^
Please tell me you don't actually believe this? It's a virus that's not happening in a country with 330 million people.
August 21st, 2020 at 7:35 AM ^
The United States has tested over 70 million times. have you been tested? I bet you 95% of the people on this board hasn't been tested.
August 20th, 2020 at 5:47 PM ^
If everyone in America was tested, the rates would probably be lower. Much lower is my guess.
Active college aged kids are probably the most likely group to have it because of their behaviors. Significantly more likely than the general population. Also, this is a sample heavily skewed towards Indiana residents which hasn't been hit hard yet, meaning more people are still susceptible and just now getting it or yet to get it whereas other parts of the country, like the Northeast and now South have had the fires burn through to some extent already.
August 20th, 2020 at 6:14 PM ^
Michigan’s testing plan
https://record.umich.edu/articles/schlissel-collins-explain-fall-semester-virus-testing-plans/
- Anyone who is symptomatic will be tested, with students tested through University Health Service, and faculty and staff tested through their health-care providers.
- A team of public health and other graduate students are being trained to serve as contact tracers for the campus community.
- Each day, all members of the U-M community coming to campus will be expected to check themselves for COVID-19 symptoms by answering a brief set of questions using a daily symptom-checker tool.
- Several thousand students, faculty and staff will be surveillance tested each week on a random opt-in basis to help determine the spread of the virus in the community.
- All students will be expected to practice enhanced social distancing for two weeks before coming to Ann Arbor.
- Students moving into residence halls and apartments will be tested for COVID-19 before they arrive on campus. Those who test positive will have to remain at home for at least 10 days before coming to Ann Arbor.
- Students who arrive on campus not having been tested will be given a test and limited in their interactions until results are back.
- Six hundred single rooms have been set aside for isolation or quarantine for students if needed.
August 20th, 2020 at 3:50 PM ^
The testing numbers don't mean much BEFORE school starts. Once students begin mixing, the numbers will go straight up.
August 20th, 2020 at 3:52 PM ^
And unless all these students are elderly with underlying health conditions, most of them, if not all, will survive will get through this just fine. But then a vaccine that actually works might be years away, so it's best we just shut everything down, hide out in our house, and let fear be our guide
August 20th, 2020 at 4:09 PM ^
People like you are the reason 200k Americans have died from the virus.
August 20th, 2020 at 4:21 PM ^
I actually think it is you and the anti-lockdown / anti-mask crowd that are the most fearful.
Fearful of your freedoms being taken away, fearful of life without football, fearful of what will happen to your kids if they can’t physically be in a classroom for a few months, fearful that things will never be the same. Not that we don’t all fear some of those things, but you lot take it to the extreme and allow the fear to control you.
The rest of us are in support of a rational, science-based approach to ending this pandemic as soon as possible. We are interested in working the problem to help make it better. Care to join us?
August 20th, 2020 at 4:28 PM ^
Sure. What do you suggest? What would be your success measurement? When will it be acceptable for children to return to school? What makes a winter season safer?
August 20th, 2020 at 5:15 PM ^
Every month further we get into this pandemic we learn more about how it spreads, who it affects and why, how to test cheaper and more effectively, the standard of care improves for positive people, and more treatments come online.
I may turn out that playing football is fine but maybe the showers and locker rooms are where it spreads or maybe the weight room, sauna, or treatment rooms. Football will happen in some places this fall and we'll learn a lot about what works and what doesn't and how to keep people safe. Companies like mine are making rapid 15 minute tests and we'll be ramping up to the tens of millions of tests per month. We have about 5 competitors doing the same over the next few months. Things should be a lot better in the winter assuming the govt and private businesses are willing to step up and pay for free or cheap testing.
August 21st, 2020 at 7:46 AM ^
They never answer this because there is no answer other than you need to wear a mask. Oh and everyone should be in a lockdown and not live there one and only life assuming the risk and responsibilities.there is no answer because it's a virus and it will continue to be one until it burns out just like it's doing in New York and now in Florida. You have to let it go through and then it goes away that's life.
people need to build up their immune system by eating correctly, keeping their weight down, getting exercise, taking vitamins, lowering their stress levels, getting good sleep, social distancing,. If they do that there is a 99.99% chance this will be no worse than the flu for them. People are always going to die but to shut down an entire country like people want to do over something that people can't comprehend because of the large numbers is mind-boggling to me. Death sucks but there's no stopping it and all you can do is increase the odds that today isn't the day you die.
August 20th, 2020 at 4:31 PM ^
Anyone who wants college football to happen but refuses to wear a mask is basically a dog chasing it's own tail. You want to see Michigan or OSU play? Wear a damn mask, quarantine and help the country flatten the curve. You want to go back to work? WEAR A MASK. You want your kids to go back to school. WEAR A MASK.
August 20th, 2020 at 4:07 PM ^
Imagine if the BIG 10 and PAC 12 get to play a spring season because of their cautionary protocols while the BIG 12, SEC, and ACC all try to play in the fall, are forced to cancel the season in week 3 and compromise their chances of having a spring season because of their recklessness. Clemson is then hit with a huge lawsuit from players that contracted Covid in the fall. Trevor Lawrence immediately transfers to Michigan to have a head to head battle with Fields in the spring before entering the draft. Disney couldn't write a better story.
August 20th, 2020 at 7:07 PM ^
They'd still try to have a spring season if they had to shut it down this fall.
August 20th, 2020 at 4:11 PM ^
What a bunch of nerds!
August 20th, 2020 at 4:15 PM ^
Hopefully no Haarms will come to them.
August 20th, 2020 at 4:24 PM ^
Careful posting a positive covid development. This will get you nuked.
August 20th, 2020 at 7:08 PM ^
Patience my young padawan. Give it time.
August 20th, 2020 at 4:37 PM ^
ND did basically the same thing and closed down a week later. I don't see why this would be any different.
August 20th, 2020 at 6:35 PM ^
It will be the same as ND, but Purdue does have a couple of advantages. 1. West Lafayette is in the middle of nowhere. 2. Engineering students (as others mentioned) are already socially distanced.
August 20th, 2020 at 4:40 PM ^
Just give things a week. The Indiana schools are a week behind North Carolina. The parties have already started down here. (I'm in Bloomington).