After criticism, UB to begin Covid-19 surveillance testing on campus

The University at Buffalo is launching a new coronavirus surveillance testing program – more than a week after students started returning to campus and amid criticism that university officials weren't doing enough to prevent spread of the virus.

The university plans to test hundreds of students and staff for Covid-19 beginning next week, using a method known as pooled screening that also will be repeated at other times during the fall semester.

University officials have been under fire for not testing students or requiring them to be tested prior to the start of the fall semester on Monday, as has been done at other colleges and universities.

The surveillance method developed at SUNY Upstate Medical University involves pooled testing of groups of 10 to 25 people who can be screened in a single analysis of their saliva samples. At UB, the samples will be pooled in batches of 12.

Individuals swab their mouths and give a saliva sample to medical personnel, who then combine the collected samples into a single sample that is tested for coronavirus.

This method does not diagnose an infected person, but it will allow UB to screen the campus quickly and regularly for the presence of the virus.

If a pooled test comes back negative, the students who submitted samples for the test presumably do not have Covid-19. But if the pooled test comes back positive, student saliva samples will be tested individually to determine who has the virus and needs to be isolated.

UB plans to sample a total of 837 people at random in regular intervals throughout the semester for the surveillance testing program, which also is being used on other campuses.

The union that represents faculty and professional staff at UB and other SUNY campuses has been highly critical of UB’s lack of testing to date.

By contrast, Binghamton University did 6,232 tests between Aug. 19 and Aug. 26, the first day of the fall semester there. Twenty-eight students tested positive and were isolated, per CDC and state health guidelines, according to the university’s website, which includes a Covid-19 testing data dashboard.

Dr. Philip L. Glick, professor of surgery and management at UB and president of the UB Health Sciences Center Chapter of United University Professions, said the university’s plan should have implemented testing before classes even started, instead of relying on students to “self-isolate” before coming to campus.

“It’s just not 18- to 25-year-old behavior to socially distance. They just can’t do it,” said Glick. “It’s impossible.”

State Health Commissioner Howard Zucker offered UB officials access to the Upstate Medical Center testing protocol in early August, and university administrators have been reluctant to use it, said Glick.

Glick said he and other members of UUP have lobbied Zucker to lean on UB and insist that the university test.

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“It’s the most powerful mitigation step we have if people are going to be getting together, like at a school,” he said.

Testing will allow the university to find people who are infected and have no symptoms for five to 14 days, which could be up to 80% of all 18- to 30-year-olds, the age of most undergraduate students at UB, said Glick.

“Some people get Covid and don’t even know they’re sick, but they’re spreaders during that time,” he said.

UB officials said mass testing of asymptomatic students upon arrival on campus would have been ineffective.

“Individuals can test negative on one day and test positive or develop symptoms the next day,” said Dr. Michael E. Cain, vice president for health sciences, dean of the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences and chair of the committee overseeing UB’s Health and Safety Guidelines. “Moreover, given the low prevalence of Covid-19 in New York State, and the delays in obtaining testing results, one-time mass testing for screening purposes is of very limited value.”

Cain said periodic, random surveillance testing will provide “an important metric of changes in prevalence of Covid-19 within the UB community.”

Five UB students and employees have tested positive for Covid-19 since Friday, according to the university's website.

UB officials said they plan on randomly sampling 279 people in each of three types of groups: students who live in on-campus dorms or apartment complexes near North Campus and eat at on-campus dining facilities; students who live in Buffalo and attend in-person classes; and university faculty and staff who are on campus and interacting with other people.

The testing will happen in multiple rounds throughout the semester, and the frequency will depend on the results of the first round of testing, as well as changes in prevalence of Covid-19 in Western New York, said Cain.

Each round of testing will sample 837 people at random. The cost of a test is $15 per individual, so UB will spend $12,555 for each round of tests.

SUNY Oneonta used pooled surveillance to sample every student at the college this past weekend, following reports of large student parties and positive test results for 20 students last week. The surveillance resulted in 105 students testing positive. SUNY Chancellor Jim Malatras announced Sunday that the campus will be shut down for in-person instruction for at least two weeks.

Syracuse University screened its entire population of returning students over four or five days using the pooled saliva method. The university plans to screen all students again next week, and also will conduct random testing throughout the semester.

UB officials also confirmed that the university is “in discussions” about participating in a pilot program that would test campus wastewater for the presence of coronavirus, as is being done on some other campuses across the country.