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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]From inside the higher-ed world: Schools that initiated covid vaccination requirements (of whatever kind) often also tended to be schools with more robust surveillance programs and more detailed data reporting.  My individual no-policy institution had a stunningly low percentage of covid cases officially listed in comparison to other institutions within a radius of a few miles in the same metro area (upper Midwest).  The difference wasn't less covid.  The difference was less testing.  So attempting to draw larger conclusions about college spread without much more nuanced analysis is going to be a losing errand.

There has always been very strong incentive among college students not to test if they didn't absolutely have to.  Heck, there is strong incentive in society in general right now not to test if you don't absolutely have to.  My family personally tests a lot, but I know others don't, and I know my students don't, which is why I have to mask to teach.  If one student gets covid, they take a few days out or have to listen on Zoom.  If I get covid, the _whole class_ is stuck with that arrangement.  I figure they'd rather have me there in real life and be there themselves in real life, even if I'm wearing a mask at the time.[/quote]

Yeah, my DC attended a midwest univ during covid.  Fall of 2020 there was no mandatory testing, just if you had contact or felt ill.  8K undergrads (probably only 6.5-7K actually on/near campus that fall), and at least 3 dorms had complete shut downs (as in, you have 2 hours until lockdown for 10-12 days, please stay but if not you can leave with parents).  Cases skyrocketed in late Oct (who would have thought with Halloween and being in a state that was leading the country for covid at that point).  However, in Jan 2021, the university instituted mandatory weekly testing for everyone attending courses on campus/living on/near campus.  The rates were much more manageable that semester; they were able to shut down just single floors of dorms because they could catch it much sooner. 
And yes, kids would avoid testing on campus if they felt only slightly ill, or would go off campus to check, because they knew it wouldn't be reported to campus and if needed they could still attend classes/exams.

The mandatory testing helps protect everyone---including the professors (like you) who try so hard to provide excellent in person instruction.  Helps protect staff/profs who might have vulnerable people at home (kids not eligible for vaccines until just now and immunocompromised family/friends).

Even Dec 2021, Cornell knew things were "blowing up on campus" because of the extensive testing.  It allowed them to enact stricter protocols to finish final exams for those that were not already ill.

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