Universities across the U.S. are looking to different testing techniques to decrease the likelihood of Covid-19 spreads on campuses. At the University of Arizona dorm wastewater is tested regularly to determine if students in a specific building need to be tested and isolated. The University of Illinois uses a saliva test to screen students and staff for the virus and either approves or denies access to school buildings via a smartphone app based on each person's test results, or denies access altogether if no test was taken.

When Salisbury University faced the likelihood of having to enact a campus-wide lockdown due to the rapidly increasing prevalence of COVID-19 cases, the school took steps to revise protocols and mandate further regulations in order to keep operations running. From hybrid classrooms to "mandating negative tests on file every 30 days for university members to retain access to campus facilities," the university has recently been touted as a model for successfully staying open amid the pandemic.

Jesuit High School in Northern California has remained open in full for two months without encountering a single outbreak of Covid-19 amongst school attendants. While it hasn't been inexpensive, the parochial school routinely conducts districtwide on-site rapid coronavirus tests and attributes this protocol to the overall success.

Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard is a biomedical and genomics research center that is at the heart of many east-coast universities successfully reopening campuses during the coronavirus pandemic. Operating with a resemblance to an assembly line, the testing lab is able to process up to 100,000 tests per day.

In Georgia’s Athens-Clarke County, schools and the community have responded to the COVID-19 pandemic by setting up a food delivery and pickup program for students and families that experience food insecurity. Busses have been repurposed to deliver fully prepared meals, with the county also offering pick up and drive-thru options as well.

The Univeristy of New Haven's contact tracing program successfully helped identify an outbreak of the COVID-19, which in turn allowed the school to quarantine those impacted and continue classes for the rest of the students without interruption. Between contact tracing and other protocols such as mandatory social distancing and intermittent testing, UNH "does not foresee moving to a more virtual format or limiting on-campus life further."

College athletes created a social media and digital campaign to publish a list of health and labor demands, some of them related to the COVID-19 pandemic. They also advocated for racial justice and elevated the Black Lives Matter movement. “Already, the NCAA met two of the player demands: requiring rigorous player COVID-19 testing and standard health protocols, and guaranteeing an additional year of eligibility."

In New Haven, colleges and universities are taking different approaches to COVID-19 testing. Some, like Yale, test students more than once a week. Others are sample testing clusters of students, whatever the method its helping some universities prevent outbreaks and learn what works, and what doesn't.

During the NFL's 2020/21 season, "700 players, coaches and other team personnel tested positive for the coronavirus," but none of those individuals were associated with the Seattle Seahawks – the only team that lasted the entire season without one positive case. The Seahawks enacted strict protocols such as dividers between showers and lockers, upgraded ventilation systems, daily testing, and a mobile meal app, but they also relied on innovative tactics like creating a competition for which position group could maintain the fewest close contacts.

Five New Haven universities and colleges are taking different approaches to re-opening their campuses. Administration at the University of New Haven is ramping up Covid testing to test 20% of in-person students weekly, an increase from as little as 5% before, along with adding a 20-minute break between classes to decrease crowd densities during passing periods. Other campuses, like Yale, are skipping the spring break period and only allow around 75% of its student population to live on-campus.

Students in fraternities and sororities at the University of Minnesota have moved many of their social activities to a virtual space and are taking precautions for those living in Greek housing to protect members and their community from contracting COVID-19. So far, efforts have largely proven successful in mitigating cases with only two students testing positive who were both able to immediately self-quarantine in private rooms.

Around the world, sporting leagues have had to cancel or postpone their games as a response to COVID-19, but in select countries, they’re showing the world how to – safely – resume games. Taiwan’s basketball and baseball leagues and South Korea’s baseball and soccer leagues have started playing again. They’ve put into place measures like banning all fans from in-person viewing and taking regular temperature checks for players and coaches. While being careful, the physical nature of sports still presents challenges.

Dartmouth College's football team reduced injuries and began winning more games after the coaching staff implemented non-contact tactics into practices, such as using robotic tackling dummies in place of the players themselves. The practice was already gaining recognition from other schools, but amid the coronavirus, the NFL is now trying out similar protocols too.

Despite the coronavirus pandemic, the NFL played all scheduled games during its regular season – including the Super Bowl – by enacting strict protocols and using data to make adjustments as necessary. The league relied heavily on contact tracing and testing, which prompted the CDC to change guidelines after the NFL's data showed that previous guidance about exposure was likely too lenient.

Europe’s hardcore football fans, deprived of the communal experience of watching their sport in raucous stadium crowds during the pandemic, redirected their energies toward public service projects to help communities cope with the virus. The oft-maligned “ultra” movement, blamed for the COVID-19 outbreak that became the epicenter of Europe’s virus crisis, has made hospital donations, collected food bank donations and delivered food to shut-ins, and made personal protective equipment. The philanthropy has spread across the continent to demonstrate the movement's ability to act responsibly.