COVID-19 Outbreak Among College Students After a Spring Break Trip to Mexico — Austin, Texas, March 26–April 5, 2020

Details

• Journal Article:
  Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR)
• Personal Author:
  Lewis, Megan ; Sanchez, Ruth ; Auerbach, Sarah ; Nam, Dolly ; Lanier, Brennan ; Taylor, Jeffrey ; Jaso, Cynthia ; Nolan, Kate ; Jacobs, Elizabeth A. ; Hudson, F. Parker ; Bhavnani, Darlene ; Corporate Authors: ; Hess, Kristen L. ; Hu, Sherry ; Zhu, Hong ; Harris, Norma ; Morgan, Marie S.
• Corporate Authors:
  University of Texas at Austin, Texas. Dell Medical School. ; University of Texas Health Sciences Center. School of Public Health at Austin, Texas. ; Austin Public Health (Austin, Texas)
• Description:
  On March 27, 2020, a University of Texas at Austin student with cough, sore throat, and shortness of breath had a positive test result for SARS-CoV-2, the Virus that causes coronaVirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). On March 28, two more symptomatic students had positive test results, alerting the COVID-19 Center at the University of Texas Health Austin (UTHA) to a potential outbreak; the center initiated an outbreak investigation the same day. UTHA conducted contact tracing, which linked the students' infections to a spring break trip to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, during March 14-19. Among 231 persons tested for SARS-CoV-2 in this investigation, 64 (28%) had positive test results, including 60 (33%) of 183 Cabo San Lucas travelers, one of 13 (8%) household contacts of Cabo San Lucas travelers, and three (9%) of 35 community contacts of Cabo San Lucas travelers. Approximately one fifth of persons with positive test results were asymptomatic; no persons needed hospitalization, and none died. This COVID-19 outbreak among a young, healthy population with no or mild symptoms was controlled with a coordinated public health response that included rapid contact tracing and tTesting of all exposed persons. A coordinated response with contact tracing and tTesting of all contacts, including those who are asymptomatic, is important in controlling future COVID-19 outbreaks that might occur as schools and universities consider reopening.
• Subjects:
  Adult CoronaVirus Infections COVID-19 Disease Outbreaks Female Humans Male Middle Aged Pandemics Pneumonia, Viral Students Travel-Related Illness Universities Young Adult

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• Source:
  MMWR Morbidity Mortal Weekly Rep. 69(26):830-835
• Series:
  Weekly Report: Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR)
• ISSN:
  0149-2195 (print) ; 1545-861X (digital)
• Pubmed ID:
  32614814
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC7332093
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Mexico ; Texas
• Pages in Document:
  6 pdf pages
• Volume:
  69
• Issue:
  26
• Collection(s):
  Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR)
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:ac9e4461958a372f0e6dfc6eb58506db2f5866a808ada3a68d0a0fe499d575fcbdfb79f54d58dcfacca69dcf1087e941a22d496eee7b60d023e1048864cc992f
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/90683/cdc_90683_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 124.87 KB ]