School Notes: School of Public Health
September/October 2020

College students should be tested every few days

To safely reopen college campuses this fall, students need to be screened for SARS-CoV-2 infection every two or three days, finds a study led by the Yale School of Public Health.

The research, published in JAMA Open Network, came as universities across the United States were grappling with whether and how to reopen for the fall 2020 semester. For many US colleges, COVID-19 represents an existential dilemma: either they open their doors to students in September or they face severe financial consequences. Investigators led by Professor A. David Paltiel used epidemic modeling and cost-effectiveness analysis to assemble data on SARS-CoV-2 screening performance. 

Rates of major depressive episodes higher than thought

The number of adults in the United States who suffer from major depressive episodes (MDEs) at some point in their life is far higher than previously believed. National survey data currently shows that approximately 17 percent of women and 10 percent of men report having a history of MDEs in their lifetimes. But these data are subject to “recall error,” or the tendency of people to forget or misreport their health histories when taking a survey. Researchers led by Assistant Professor Jamie Tam created a simulation model to generate corrected estimates of lifetime depression. They found that the proportion of US adults who have had MDEs is actually closer to 30 percent of women and 17 percent of men.

Yale and NBA partner to study new COVID-19 test

Researchers from the Yale School of Public Health have partnered with the National Basketball Association (NBA) and National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) to study the efficacy of a saliva-based test that quickly determines if someone is infected with the novel coronavirus.

A research team led by Yale’s Nathan Grubaugh and Anne Wyllie will begin testing select players, coaches, and staff from the NBA teams that have opted into the study, using a testing method they developed, known as SalivaDirect.