As colleges prepare to restart this fall, the case study of a University of Texas group that traveled to Cabo San Lucas shows how easily the coronavirus spreads among college students — and how it can be contained.

By Rachel Bade @ WashingtonPost.com, June 24

On March 19 [....] a group of students from the University of Texas at Austin returned from a spring break trip to a Mexican beach resort.

Within two weeks, 60 of the 183 travelers to Cabo San Lucas, along with four contacts, tested positive for the novel coronavirus, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

As students prepare to return to many universities this fall, the case study offers a window into how easily the virus spreads among college students — and how it can be contained. Researchers likened their close quarters and constant interaction to the environment of a nursing home in the potential for disease spread.

“Contact tracing and testing of close contacts, regardless of symptoms, is important in limiting spread, especially in young and healthy populations living in shared housing,” they wrote.

That effort limited the outbreak in this case, as did a local shelter-in-place order issued by Austin on March 25, six days after the students returned, the researchers concluded.

As schools reopen, “we need to have resources in place to be able to act and respond to these clusters,” including for people in isolation, said Darlene Bhavnani, an infectious-disease epidemiologist at UT-Austin’s Dell Medical School and the lead epidemiologist on the school’s contact-tracing efforts.

At the time, reports of positive cases provoked outrage among local leaders.

“It’s time to grow up,” Texas House Speaker Dennis Bonnen (R) said. [....]