By Sahar Chmais
Texas State University has recently expanded their COVID-19 testing efforts to asymptomatic students. So far, the university is seeing a very low percentage of infections.
During the earlier part of the fall semester, the university could only administer free testing to students who were symptomatic, or to those who had been in close contact with a positive case. That recently changed when the university received state and county aid and contracted with the coronavirus testing company, Curative. Expanded testing helps the university better gauge their COVID-19 infection rate, but it also gives city residents more peace of mind.
Last week, Texas State administered 1074 tests and only had 18 positive cases, which is a 1.7% positivity rate.
“That is really good,” said Dr. Emilio Carranco, director of the student health center. “We were thrilled to see a lot of campus community taking advantage of that testing. It looks like this week we are seeing the same pattern; a lot of people are signing up for it.”
Halfway through this week, 800 people have already signed up for COVID-19 tests. Not everyone who signs up will show, but the majority end up taking the test, Carranco said.
Carranco explained that using Curative, a PCR test which is administered orally, might incentivize more people to show up and do the test, instead of hesitating to do the uncomfortable nasal PCR test.
Having the ability to test asymptomatic people is pertinent; according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 40% of COVID-19 carriers are asymptomatic. It is important to find the silent spreaders to get a better sense of COVID-19 cases on campus, Carranco said.
“What we have seen through our health center and contact tracing,” Carranco said, “is a lot of college students tend to have mild symptoms or they are asymptomatic. I think it is important to do this testing in young adults.”
Finding the asymptomatic carries also helps contact tracers perform a more thorough job. And through the contact tracing system, Bobcat Trace, Carranco said they have seen some interesting results about the spread.
Up to this point, there is no evidence of COVID-19 spread in classrooms or residence halls. The spread usually occurs among roommates, between friends and family, Carranco said. There also have not been any major outbreaks of COVID-19 in the city of San Marcos since school resumed; the city’s largest spikes occurred in June and July.
One of the university’s largest efforts to stop the spread was by creating a Bobcat Trace portal and employing 18 contact tracers. Carranco stated that contact tracers are able to give notification within 24 hours and this has been an achievable goal for most cases that came through.
Of course, there are always shortcomings; contact tracing begins with a person reporting their case – they also have to be willing to give information on who they were in contact with. While most students have complied, there are always some people who do not want their privacy invaded.
Sometimes it takes building trust and assurance from the contact tracer that private information will not be shared; according to Carranco, most of the time people will adhere.
The other challenge is that sometimes a person will not know the other person’s name or contact information, yet they were in close contact. In these cases, professors and even friends of the student who tested positive will be contacted in order to get the proper information.
Since mid-September, COVID-19 infections at Texas State University have been decreasing. Starting from March 1, the university had 678 reported positive infections; as of Oct. 7, there is a total of 41 active cases.
"Things seem to be going well and hope we can keep that up,” Carranco told the Hays Free Press/News-Dispatch.
