The Daily Gamecock

USC COVID-19 update: Cases down to 95, testing numbers lower than last week

The number of active coronavirus cases on campus have dropped down to 95, according to Tuesday’s COVID-19 dashboard update.

Of the 95 cases, 90 are students and five are employees. This is down 75 cases from Friday’s count of 170

The total percent positive rate sits at 3.2% for Sept. 18 to Sept. 21, the most recent reporting period. The total percent positive has decreased over the past week, down from the 5.1% reported on Friday.

From Sept. 18 to Sept. 21, 808 tests were conducted, which is lower than the 1,456 tests conducted for the previous reporting period and is still lower than the university’s peak of over 2,000 tests per reporting period in late August.

Quarantine/isolation housing has 94.3% capacity available, which means 781 rooms out of a total 828 are not in use. In an email on Friday, university spokesman Jeff Stensland said the university leased another hotel, Holiday Inn Express on Washington Street, to “expand quarantine capacity and prepare for a potential increase in active COVID cases.”

With the new lease, quarantine/isolation housing now includes Bates West, the National Advocacy Center, the SpringHill Suites and the Holiday Inn Express.

Since Aug. 1, 2,338 students and employees have had COVID-19 and 2,243 have recovered. 

Friday's dashboard update showed a redesigned dashboard with new data points, like the number of recovered individuals. This week, there was one addition to the dashboard. The percent positive rate for the current reporting period is now shown in a separate table.

The alert level remains at “new normal,” the lowest level on the alert scale. At the “new normal” level, students are “encouraged to remain vigilant in practicing behaviors related to physical distancing, face coverings, hand washing and reducing unnecessary social interaction,” according to the dashboard.

The alert level is calculated using 11 factors, including testing, on-campus case burden and quarantine/isolation capacity.

The COVID-19 dashboard will be updated every Tuesday and Friday.  


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