‘We didn’t model that people would go to a party if they tested positive’

‘We didn’t model that people would go to a party if they tested positive’

NOTABLE QUOTABLE

“What we didn’t model for is that people would choose to go to a party if they knew that they were positive.”

The University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign (UIUC) has a mass-testing programme that has been touted as a model system. Students have to get tested twice a week, or risk losing their academic standing. But the institute has seen a spike in infections in recent weeks. Martin Burke, a chemist at UIUC who helped to develop the university’s RNA-based saliva test, spoke to Nature about the challenges and lessons of mass testing on campus. (Nature | 6 min read)