Boston College reported three new undergraduate and seven new non-undergraduate cases of COVID-19 out of 2,245 tests in the Friday update of its COVID-19 dashboard, a community positivity rate of .45 percent. The undergraduate positivity rate as of the Friday update is .23 percent.
Last week the University reported 31 non-undergraduate cases of COVID-19, the highest of the semester. The non-undergraduate positivity rate since the last update is .72 percent.
The numbers from Friday’s update bring this week’s undergraduate positivity rate down to .25 percent, with six positives out of 2,403 tests. The non-undergraduate weekly positivity rate fell to 1.51 percent from the Thursday update, where the rate spiked to 4.86 percent.
According to the Commonwealth’s weekly dashboard as of Thursday, Newton and Boston remain in the moderate-risk category for COVID-19 transmission.
Newton reported an average of 24.9 daily cases per 100,000 residents between Nov. 29 and Dec. 12—slightly up from 23.6 in the previous two-week period. Boston reported 61.9 daily cases per 100,000 residents during the same period, a jump from the prior two-week incidence rate of 46.06.
Massachusetts, which only officially recommends that people get tested if they have COVID-19 symptoms, have come into contact with someone who tested positive, or live in a high-transmission risk community, reported a seven-day average positivity rate of 5.94 percent on Monday, down from 6.02 percent on Thursday. Boston reported a positivity rate of 8 percent between Dec. 7 and Dec. 13.
There are currently 15 undergraduate students in isolation as of Friday, with six in isolation housing and nine recovering at home.
All residence halls closed for the fall semester at 5 p.m. on Monday, and are not scheduled to reopen until move-in begins on Jan. 24.
Any student who was contact traced or who tested positive for COVID-19 in the 10 days prior to the end of the semester may have had to remain quarantine or isolation housing past BC’s official closing date, Associate Vice President for Student Engagement and Formation Tom Mogan wrote in an email to the BC community on Dec. 4.
BC has performed 138,311 total tests this year, with 499 positives. These numbers include 101,704 undergraduate tests and 435 undergraduate cases of COVID-19.
Featured Image by Ikram Ali / Heights Editor
