UConn COVID-19 Student Testing Update For Monday, Aug. 17

Press release from University of Connecticut:

August 17, 2020

STORRS, Conn. – UConn is testing its entire residential population for COVID-19 upon students’ arrival to campus, and providing testing for off-campus students who plan to commute to attend in-person courses.

As of now, a total of 3,739 UConn residential students’ test results have been returned, with four positive cases. That represents 0.10 percent of all tests administered to this population, or one-tenth of 1 percent.

As of this morning, three off-campus commuter students have also reported to the University that they have tested positive.

Thirteen residential students are in medical quarantine on campus due to potential contact with the on-campus students confirmed to have the virus, and five isolation spaces are in use (the four on-campus positives, plus a student who is ill with COVID-like symptoms but has tested negative for the virus multiple times).

The University conducts deep cleaning in the living spaces of any on-campus students who receive a positive test. Specifics about the locations and students are not being released due to federal healthcare and student privacy laws.

Additional information from Sunday’s release:

“Given the volume of testing we are doing, it was inevitable that there would be positive cases,” said UConn Dean of Student Eleanor Daugherty. “Knowing this, the university has a clear and detailed strategy in place we can quickly implement to address any positives, and have already done so in these cases.

“The students who tested positive have been notified and relocated to dedicated isolation space on campus. We have also notified their small family unit cohort, identified as ‘close contacts’, and they are being placed on a two-week self-quarantine and will be retested,” she said. “This is exactly why UConn created the 14-day quarantine period for our residential students in advance of the start of classes at the end of the month. There will undoubtedly be more positive cases as more tests result in the coming days, and we will address each the same way as we work to protect the health of individual students and our community.”

About 5,500 students have signed up for residential spaces at UConn Storrs, and about 265 more will live in UConn Stamford student housing.

For more specifics about UConn’s testing policies for residential and commuter students, along with faculty and staff who expect to be on campus on a regular basis, visit:
https://reopen.uconn.edu/testing/

This press release was produced by University of Connecticut. The views expressed here are the author's own.