Boston College’s COVID-19 cases continue to fall steadily this week, with 11 positive cases out of 4,070 total tests, including 10 undergraduates, for a weekly positivity rate of 0.27%.
The steady downward trend in positive cases followed a spike of 73 cases the week of September 7-13, which raised concerns throughout the BC community.
The University increased its weekly testing capacity in light of the increase in positive cases, testing 3,488 undergrads through Tuesday. Since testing began on August 16, the University has conducted 33,811 tests of BC community members, including 21,964 tests of undergraduates, with a total of 138 positive cases, including 135 undergrads. By contrast, Boston University has reported 108 total positive cases, Providence College 151, Northeastern University 66, and University of Notre Dame 700.
Currently, there are 24 BC undergraduates in isolation--10 in University isolation housing and 14 recovering at home. A total of 111 undergraduates have recovered and returned to normal activities.
“We are pleased that the numbers have steadily decreased each day since the spike we experienced during the fourth week of testing,” said Director of University Health Services Dr. Douglas Comeau. We will continue to quickly identify and test individuals who are deemed to be close contacts of anyone testing positive, and follow our quarantine and isolation protocols to prevent the spread of the virus.”
Comeau said that Boston College continues to work closely in its contact tracing with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ Contact Tracing Collaborative and the departments of health in Boston, Newton, and Brookline. As of September 22, 99 of the 138 positive cases on campus were identified through the University’s contact tracing efforts.
In addition to daily symptomatic testing conducted through University Health Services and The Broad Institute, asymptomatic testing is offered Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays throughout the semester in the MAC Courts in the Margot Connell Recreation Center. Testing results are posted Tuesdays through Fridays on the Reopening BC website: bc.edu/reopen. The University expects to conduct upwards of 7,000 COVID-19 tests this week.
The weekly community test totals and community positivity rates since testing began are as follows:
• 7,681 tests conducted Week of August 16-23. Positivity Rate 0.04%
• 10,127 tests conducted Week of August 24-30. Positivity Rate 0.08%
• 4,322 tests conducted Week of August 31-September 6. Positivity Rate 0.60%
• 2,972 tests Week of September 9-13. Positivity Rate 2.46%
• 4,639 tests Week of September 14-20. Positivity Rate 0.37%
• 4,070 tests through Tuesday (9-22) for Week of September 21. Positivity Rate 0.27%.
University Communications / September 23. 2020
