Counties with universities that participated in March Madness saw COVID-19 increases
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Counties with universities participating in the NCAA’s March Madness basketball tournament saw an increase in COVID-19 cases beginning 8 days after the final game of participation, data published in JAMA Network Open showed.
Ashley L. O’Donoghue, PhD, a postdoctoral research fellow at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, used data from The New York Times from Jan. 28 through May 25 — 50 days before to 50 days after the tournament — to assess daily COVID-19 infections in each county per 100,000 residents.
O’Donoghue used a difference-in-difference design to compare counties with universities competing in the tournament with counties that did not have any universities in competition.
According to the study, counties experienced a 13.4% (95% CI, 0.8%-25.9%) increase in COVID-19 cases beginning 8 days after the final game of participation. Increases continued and peaked on day 24 at 21.8% (95% CI, 6.4%-37.3%).
“While many universities have decided to implement vaccination mandates, not all universities have,” O’Donoghue said in a news release. “This study fills a gap in evidence on the risk of COVID-19 spread from social gatherings among unvaccinated university students. This suggests that vaccinations, surveillance testing of unvaccinated students, or other mitigation measures are still important to reduce the spread of COVID-19 in a university’s community.”
References:
March Madness: Researcher sees temporary increase in COVID-19 cases in counties where universities played in the NCA Tournament. https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/932385. Published Ost. 25, 2021. Accessed Oct. 27, 2021.
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