By Jhoana T. Merino-Martinez
News Editor
Three new positive cases of COVID-19 were reported on the Metropolitan campus from last week, according to the Campus Health and Safety email sent Wednesday.
While further test results are still to be reported, the university said, there have been 17 positive cases for both campuses since the start of the fall semester on Aug. 17 to the conclusion of finals Tuesday.
“You have demonstrated that it is possible to continue our mission while taking precautions to keep everyone as safe as possible and minimize transmission of COVID-19 on our campuses,” President Christopher Capuano said in a separate email to the university community.
There were two new positive results for residents on the Metro campus, one new reported case for Metro off-campus students, along with two new positive cases among faculty and staff between both New Jersey campuses, the university reported.
The two week’s comparison reveals increase of five positive cases.
For the semester, there have been 16 positive cases so far for Metro residents and off-campus students. In addition, there have been six total cases from faculty and staff on both campuses.
The university reports 1,143 negative tests for both campuses this semester, up 136 from last week’s report.
With those results, and with 40 positive cases reported, there are a total of 1,183 tests conducted this semester for both campuses, according to university reports. That is a 3.4% rate of positivity for the term.
For the week, there were five new cases and 141 total tests for a 3.5% rate of positivity.
The CDC states that a 5% positivity rate or more among tests in the last 14 days is a “moderate” risk for the spread of the coronavirus in school settings.
The fall numbers are encouraging but Capuano remains cautious about campus life at the start of the spring semester on Jan. 25.
“We are planning for more in-person courses and more on-campus activities in the spring, and we are hopeful that that will be the case,” he said. “But the truth is we don’t know exactly what will happen come late January.”
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