Davidson College pleads with students after 3 British variant COVID cases confirmed
Davidson College urged students on Friday to stop hanging out in small indoor groups without masks on, just days after reporting that three students contracted the highly contagious British variant of the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19.
In a Feb. 1 online message, college officials were already calling COVID-19 numbers at the school “unsettling,” although they said contact tracing had proven effective in limiting spread of the disease. The tracing revealed no cases of transmission from in-class instruction, officials said.
On Wednesday, the college posted online that students who tested positive for the British variant tested positive for COVID-19 several days before the variant was confirmed. That’s because “it takes time to perform the sequencing needed to identify the variant,” officials said.
Close contacts of the students were quarantined when the students first tested positive for COVID-19, officials said.
“Our contact tracing and quarantine has been working effectively, and many of our positive test results are coming from students already quarantined away from the rest of campus,” according to the post.
The students were among 38 active COVID-19 cases reported by the college as of Saturday, including 37 students and an employee, according to the Davidson College COVID-19 Dashboard.
That’s out of a total of 2,134 Davidson College students and employees who are regularly tested for the disease, according to the dashboard.
More contagious British variant
North Carolina’s first case of the UK variant was identified in Mecklenburg County on Jan. 23. The variant is considered to be highly more contagious than other coronavirus strains, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Hospitals and county health departments in North Carolina are not equipped to routinely screen for the UK variant, The Charlotte Observer previously reported. Mecklenburg County Public Health Director Gibbie Harris said labs statewide have similar limitations, the Observer reported.
“We don’t know how much of this new strain we have in our community,” Harris said at a news conference after the first N.C. case of the variant was found. “We know it’s here, and that’s the main thing we need to know right now.”
Mako Medical tests for coronavirus variants
Davidson College’s testing partner, Raleigh-based Mako Medical, screens every test for variants of the novel coronavirus, college spokesman Jay Pfeifer said Saturday.
“Davidson combines rigorous testing, contact tracing, clear health and safety guidelines and the strong, shared support within our community to help prevent spread of COVID-19,” according to a college statement on Saturday.
All students are tested at least twice a week, officials said in the statement, and have been since the beginning of the semester in January.
Contact tracing “has proven effective in limiting the spread of the coronavirus.,” according to the statement.
“The majority of cases in the past two weeks were already in quarantine or enhanced precautions, meaning they were removed from interaction with the campus community, before they tested positive,” according to the statement. “This reduces the chance that they were able to transmit the virus.“
Please wear a mask
In their online post to students and others in the campus community on Friday, Davidson College officials said they can trace “nearly all of the viral spread to unmasked activity.”
“Very small numbers can lead to significant spread: 3 people take their masks off in a room and soon 9 people test positive and 23 people are in quarantine,” college officials said.
In their statement to the Observer on Saturday, college officials said: “The health and safety of our community remains our top priority, and we continue to monitor the spread of variants and draw on the expertise of public health officials and our own faculty.”
This story was originally published February 13, 2021 at 11:59 AM.