Secondary SARS-CoV-2 transmission by type of exposure setting among university students.

Objective

We aimed to investigate the association between exposure settings and secondary SARS-CoV-2 transmission among university students.

Participants

Students diagnosed with COVID-19 (N = 139) and randomly selected controls (N = 262) identified between April 4-December 5, 2021.

Methods

This was a 1:2 case-control study. Exposure setting was categorized as academic/occupational, household, social/athletics, and multiple settings. Transmission was assessed by record of positive SARS-CoV-2 test among contacts within 14 days after most recent exposure.

Results

Compared to exposure in the academic/occupational setting, all other settings had significantly higher odds of secondary SARS-CoV-2 transmission, adjusting for contact vaccination status, index case vaccination status, and contact sex (p-values ≤ 0.05). In the adjusted model, contact sex was found to be significantly associated with SARS-CoV-2 transmission.

Conclusion

Among university students, academic/occupational settings had the lowest odds of SARS-CoV-2 transmission given safety measures in place. Future studies should analyze SARS-CoV-2 genomic sequence data to verify sources of infection.