On campus dormitories as viral transmission sinks: Phylodynamic insights into student housing networks during the COVID-19 pandemic.

ABSTRACT: University student housing environments are often viewed as hotspots for infectious disease transmission due to their high-density living conditions and high frequency of interpersonal interactions. During the COVID-19 pandemic, concerns arose that on campus dormitories could serve as amplifiers of viral spread, seeding outbreaks into surrounding off campus student residences. However, whether on campus housing acts as a primary driver of transmission or as a recipient of infections introduced from the broader off campus community remains unresolved. Here, we analyzed 1,431 SARS-CoV-2 genomes collected from students residing on and off campus at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNCC) between September 2020 and May 2022. Sequencing was conducted using an amplicon based whole g

SUBMITTER: Bolanos J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12594326 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature