Fifty-seven positive COVID-19 cases were reported last week by St. Thomas’ Center for Well-Being Monday, a decrease of 46 from the previous week.
Forty-seven students and 10 employees are included in the total, with three from the Minneapolis campus. These totals are “inclusive of all” self-reported positive tests from the university’s mass-testing event on Nov. 18-19.
“Updated reports from the Minnesota Department of Health indicate 2,348 of 2,387 test results from the event (which was open to all community members, including students, faculty, staff, family members and other non-students, faculty and staff) have been processed,” the COVID-19 Dashboard message said.
MDH data is reporting a 3.6% positivity rate thus far from mass testing, according to the dashboard.
Statewide, MDH is reporting 318,763 total cases out of approximately 4.3 million tests administered. 5,801 new cases and 15 deaths were reported Monday.
More mass-testing to take place
Two new opportunities for mass testing will come up on Tuesday, Dec. 8 and Thursday, Dec. 17 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., according to Vice President for Student Affairs Karen Lange.
These tests will be saliva polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests administered by Vault Health, similar to the previous mass-testing event.
Lange said that she hopes the testing event next week is able to “catch people that come back after Thanksgiving” and that the Dec. 17 event allows students to leave with peace in mind before they go home for the holidays.
The university has not announced this to the St. Thomas community as of press time, and more details will be released soon.
Cases still manageable
On campus, the dashboard continues to report no evidence of transmission in classrooms or labs, more than 50% availability of quarantine and isolation spaces on campus and the contact tracing team’s ability to interview 90-100% of reported positive cases within 24 hours over a seven day average.
“With these factors in mind, the number of positive cases remain in a manageable range,” the dashboard message said, based on the Key Considerations to Guide Decisions on Campus Operations.
The positive COVID-19 test numbers come from tests conducted at the Center for Well-Being, self-reported tests and reports from the Minnesota Department of Health.
According to the university’s COVID-19 Preparedness Plan, individuals diagnosed with COVID-19 “are expected to stay home until they have been fever-free for 72 hours (without use of medicine that reduces fever) and at least 10 days have passed since symptoms first appeared and other symptoms have improved.”
The plan also requires 14 days of quarantine for community members who have had close contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19.
St. Thomas releases weekly COVID-19 data on Mondays, which can be found on the university’s COVID-19 Dashboard.
Justin Amaker can be reached at justin.amaker@stthomas.edu.
Maggie Stout can be reached at maggie.stout@stthomas.edu.