31%Since the end of 2020
Coronavirus cases continued to appear in the tens of thousands this year in colleges, according to a New York Times investigation, after students returned to campuses at a time when the number of cases was skyrocketing in large part from the country.
More than 120,000 cases have been linked to US colleges and universities since January 1, and more than 530,000 cases have been reported since the start of the pandemic. The Times also identified more than 100 deaths involving students and employees. The vast majority occurred in 2020 and involved employees.
Growth rate of on-campus cases since the end of 2020
Each bar represents a school
Campus case growth rate
Since the end of 2020
Each bar represents a school
Small schools
Undergraduate enrollment less than 5,000
Middle schools
5,000 to 15,000
Large schools
Over 15,000
Note: The growth rate is only shown for schools that recorded at least 50 cases in 2020.
Almost a year after most universities abruptly switched online courses and sent students home, the virus continues to disrupt U.S. higher education. When many campuses reopened in the fall, epidemics swept through dormitories and infected thousands of students and staff.
Since the return of students for the spring semester, increased testing, social distancing rules and improved national outlook have helped curb the spread on some campuses. In the state of Ohio, where the test positivity rate once peaked at around 5%, university officials reported a positivity rate of just 0.5% out of 30,000 tests on the campus in a recent week.
Yet major epidemics continue. The Times investigated more than 1,900 colleges and universities for information on coronaviruses and found that at least 17 colleges had already reported more than 1,000 cases in 2021. At the University of Michigan, a highly infectious variant appeared on campus. At the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, where more cases were identified in 2021 than in the fall semester, in-person classes are resuming after a difficult start to the year.
Despite the pushes at some colleges, there are positive signs. In counties with large student populations, coronavirus cases have declined, reflecting a national downward trend in cases.
Case rate in college communities
Coronavirus cases in counties where students make up at least 10% of the population compared to other counties.
University counties
Other counties
0
20
40
60
80 cases
per 100,000 inhabitants
April 2020
July
Oct.
January 2021
Fall semester
(Sept. – Dec.)
With no national tracking system and statewide data available only sporadically, colleges have established their own rules for how to count infections. While the Times survey is considered the most comprehensive account available, it is also an undercoverage.
Many universities, hoping to quickly identify cases and prevent larger outbreaks, have aggressively tested for the virus, in some cases detecting cases that might otherwise have been missed.
Of the colleges the Times contacted, most posted case information online or responded to requests for case numbers. The Times obtained data on cases through requests for open cases at several public universities that otherwise would not provide numbers. Most colleges do not publicly report coronavirus-related deaths.
Find a school
The table includes over 1,900 colleges and lists case totals, where applicable. A few schools report only positive test results, which can include multiple tests for a person. Others were not clear whether they had positive test results or unique cases.
14 650
case to
30
schools
14,848
case to
9
schools
9 164
case to
29
schools
17 377
case to
81
schools
10,895
case to
29
schools
5,585
case to
20
schools
28 631
case to
127
schools
19 875
case to
39
schools
19,015
case to
50
schools
21,802
case to
35
schools
9 971
case to
27
schools
6,468
case to
25
schools
13,133
case to
54
schools
9,500
case to
41
schools
4,949
case to
21
schools
10,476
case to
59
schools
19,498
case to
52
schools
11,297
case to
60
schools
5,609
case to
15
schools
14 781
case to
37
schools
2 923
case to
16
schools
7 155
case to
14
schools
2 328
case to
20
schools
5 753
case to
28
schools
1 311
case to
12
schools
21 919
case to
210
schools
20,759
case to
51
schools
4,849
case to
13
schools
24,904
case to
62
schools
7,147
case to
21
schools
3 189
case to
18
schools
23,604
case to
114
schools
17 638
case to
29
schools
14 840
case to
67
schools
42 237
case to
85
schools
15,902
case to
ten
schools
14,429
case to
41
schools
5,243
case to
45
schools
3426
case to
19
schools
18,249
case to
32
schools
Note: The growth rate is only shown for schools that recorded at least 50 cases in 2020. The charts show seven-day moving averages of daily new cases over the past 14 days in the county. Unless otherwise specified, the location of a university’s main campus is shown. In several cases, colleges noted that some cases were linked to secondary campuses or satellite locations.
Given the disparities in size, plans to reopen, and transparency between universities, this data should not be used to make campus-to-campus comparisons. Some colleges subtract cases from their counts once people recover. Some only report tests done on campus. Some did not separate the 2020 case data from the 2021 case data. And some initially provided data but stopped. The calculation of growth rates for 2021 is in some cases skewed by incomplete data provided by colleges.
Infections associated with medical schools and teaching hospitals
University of Alabama at Birmingham
2 856
1,406
262
Birmingham, Ala.
University of California, San Diego
1,473
454
–
San Diego
University of Connecticut
1,144
90
–
Storrs, Conn.
University of South Florida
1211
85
–
Tampa, Florida.
Washington University
1,287
–
196
Seattle
University of California, San Francisco
454
305
163
San Francisco
University of Colorado Denver and Anschutz Medical Campus
110
81
–
Aurora, Colorado.
The Times counts reported cases among students and university employees in all fields, including those whose roles as doctors, nurses, pharmacists or medical students put them at a higher risk of contracting the virus. Some universities have a wide range of programs, including medical units, and have reported dozens of healthcare-related cases. These cases are listed above as a subset of their university-wide totals.
Some universities did not provide data on cases in their medical schools, hospitals or clinics. Some included these cases in their campus-wide counts, but did not specify how many there were. Other universities that focus primarily on medical education, or that have reported a small number of cases related to clinical programs, are listed in the main table on this page with an asterisk.
Coronavirus monitoring
