Boston College’s undergraduate positivity rate for COVID-19 fell in the Friday update of the COVID-19 dashboard after an initial rise in positivity rate at the beginning of the week following the holiday weekend.
The University reported six new positives out of 4,687 undergraduate tests between the Thursday and Friday updates of the dashboard, a positivity rate of .13 percent.
The low rate as of Friday dropped the weekly undergraduate positivity rate down to .29 percent from the .52 percent rate reported on Thursday.
The University has now reported that there were 23 positive cases out of 7,985 undergraduate tests last week, with one non-undergraduate testing positive out of 1,501 tests.
Senior Associate Director of University Communications Ed Hayward told The Heights that all undergraduates would be tested last week. The number of tests listed on the COVID-19 dashboard for last week will rise in the Tuesday update of the dashboard as more results from testing last week come in.
A University release on Thursday said that this week’s rise in positive cases was likely caused by travel over the weekend. The University previously requested that students refrain from traveling during the holiday.
The University is expected to make a decision about Thanksgiving Break by Monday, according to an email from Vice President for Student Affairs Joy Moore. The email included a survey regarding student preferences about BC’s schedule.
The survey asked whether students would prefer to return home for Thanksgiving Break and finish out the semester remotely, or if students would rather remain in Massachusetts—at BC or at home—and complete the semester on campus.
The survey closed Thursday at 5 p.m., but BC has not made the results public.
BC reported that 28 undergraduates were in isolation as of Saturday—with 21 in isolation housing and seven isolating at home—and that 182 undergraduates had recovered.
The University reported that this semester it has conducted 61,816 total tests, with 217 total positive cases, including community members, through Friday. These numbers include 43,952 undergraduate tests, with 210 undergraduate cases.
Featured Image by Jess Rivilis / Heights Editor
