[BoulderCouncilHotline] Re: Follow-up to CU COVID Presentation of 9/1/2020

[Weaver, Sam]

Frances,

Further to Mary's questions (which I definitely look forward to the answers to) I have a few questions and comments of my own.

On the BVSD call today, it was asserted that there was a declining number of positive monitoring (spit) test results that cause a referral for a medical diagnostic test for COVID.  I spent some time on the CU website, and that looks to be true.  Since the number of diagnostic tests administered daily fluctuates a lot, the way that I look at this data is to examine what percentage of COVID-positive results are produced.  Charts of test numbers and percentages are below:

[cid:image002.png at 01D69037.5E1DF170]

[cid:image004.png at 01D69037.5E1DF170]

While this is encouraging, there is information from the CU COVID dashboard that is much more concerning.  The cumulative number of students who have needed to isolate is shown on the website, and from that we can determine the daily change in on-campus students who are isolating with COVID.  That chart is below:

[cid:image006.png at 01D69037.5E1DF170]

I will assume the jaggedness of the trend line is some kind of reporting system artifact, but it is very clear that the daily case rate of confirmed COVID cases in CU-Boulder housing is rising quickly.

The spreadsheet used to make these charts is attached.

Given the facts above as reported on the CU COVID dashboard, I have additional questions to Mary's.


  1.  You said today that CU students who test positive on the monitoring test are referred to get a diagnostic test.  We were told that Wardenburg administers tests Monday to Friday.  If a student tests positive at Wardenbug, they are presumably included in the positive case counts on the dashboard.  Are they counted on the dashboard if they test positive at one of the joint testing sites or other non-Wardenburg site?
  2.  If a student voluntarily goes to one of the joint testing sites (or other non-Wardenburg site) for a diagnostic test, and that test is positive, does that information make it to the dashboard?  If so, by what method (e.g., required self-reporting), and if not why not?
  3.  Are staff included in the monitoring testing?  Are faculty?  If so, when a faculty or staff member tests positive on the monitoring tests, are they referred to Wardenburg or are they typically asked to use their own doctor?
  4.  If faculty or staff end up testing positive at a non-Wardenburg site, does that information make it to the dashboard?
  5.  If faculty and staff are included in the monitoring tests, what is the breakdown of tests administered for faculty/staff, and what is the breakdown of positive tests for each class of test (monitoring and diagnostic)?
  6.  For students/faculty/staff who test positive on the monitoring test and have completed diagnostic tests whose result is know to CU, what fraction of the positive monitoring tests result in a positive diagnostic tests?

The point of these questions is to gain knowledge to share with our community.  There is concern as expressed in the Saturday Daily Camera story about making sure that we know what is being counted by CU and what is being counted by the County.  Of some concern is the potential for double-counting or undercounting.  A further concern is identifying the amount of spread in Boulder outside of the CU community.  The County appears to be using age groups (18-22) as a proxy for CU students.  While this is likely a good approximation, there are plenty of 18-22 year-olds in Boulder who are not CU students, so having good information about the full CU-Boulder community seems important to ascertain if there is spread to the greater community, and to guide responses.  To answer Mary's questions well, we all need to know if the appropriate information is being gathered to best protect our students, faculty, staff, and greater Boulder community.

I greatly appreciate the collaborative and transparent work going on among CU, the city, the county, and the state.  Because of the great citizen concern now that Boulder has the highest infection rate in the state, the need for that collaboration and transparency is more important now than ever.

All the best,

Sam Weaver

[cid:image008.png at 01D69037.5E1DF170]<http://www.bouldercolorado.gov/>

weavers at bouldercolorado.gov
Phone: 303-416-6130

From: Young, Mary <YoungM at bouldercolorado.gov>
Sent: Monday, September 21, 2020 2:54 PM
To: frances.draper at colorado.edu
Cc: HOTLINE <HOTLINE at bouldercolorado.gov>
Subject: Re: Follow-up to CU COVID Presentation of 9/1/2020

Dear Frances,

It has been two weeks since I made the request below, I hope that you have the requested data and are planning to respond. My apologies if you have sent it and I missed it.

Cases, as you know, have reached exponential levels in Boulder County (case data plotted log scale attached) since your presentation to Council on Septemer 1. Many of the cases appear to be related to CU students, but we do not really know without looking at data disaggregated by students, faculty, staff and just as importantly, by race and ethnicity.

We know that Black and Latino communities have born the brunt of this pandemic and, it is my hope, that the University understands this and is addressing any disparities within your purview.

Last week you wrote to me with the happy news regarding the Los Seis sculpture in front of TB-1.


"The university recognizes that the Los Seis de Boulder sculpture has played an important role in deepening our collective understanding of a tragic chapter of university and Colorado history that continues to resonate with Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) and Latino/Latinx students, faculty and staff, and that it has contributed to greater community engagement and dialogue about diversity, equity, inclusion and antiracism."
I hope that your statement above can be put into action by providing data that would uncover disparities and make the engagement and dialogue referred to in your statement more than words in a press release.

Thank you.

We're all in this together...six feet apart.


In solidarity,

Mary Dolores Young
Boulder City Council
303-501-2439

[cid:image009.png at 01D6902F.5F1199E0]

"All ethics ... rest upon a single premise: that the individual is a member of a community of interdependent parts..." - Aldo Leopold


________________________________
From: Young, Mary
Sent: Monday, September 7, 2020 4:04 PM
To: frances.draper at colorado.edu<mailto:frances.draper at colorado.edu> <frances.draper at colorado.edu<mailto:frances.draper at colorado.edu>>
Cc: HOTLINE <HOTLINE at bouldercolorado.gov<mailto:HOTLINE at bouldercolorado.gov>>
Subject: Follow-up to CU COVID Presentation of 9/1/2020

Dear Frances,

Thank you and your colleagues at the University of Colorado for your continued transparency and sharing of information regarding your opening of this fall semester.

Last week, I indicated that I had more questions and would share them at a later time. What I have are follow-up requests.

I would like to see your data on COVID testing and positive test results disaggregated by race and ethnicity separately for students, faculty and front line staff. It would be helpful to include rate of testing and total number of tests as well as percentages for each (students, faculty, front line staff). I do understand that off campus students are not being tested and that many faculty members are teaching mostly remotely.

Should your data show disparities similar to what what Boulder County Public Health presented, please summarize your strategies for addressing them.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Thank you again.

We're all in this together...six feet apart.


In solidarity,

Mary Dolores Young
Boulder City Council
303-501-2439

[cid:image010.png at 01D6902F.5F1199E0]

"All ethics ... rest upon a single premise: that the individual is a member of a community of interdependent parts..." - Aldo Leopold

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