Boston College reported an additional 15 cases of COVID-19 out of 264 undergraduate tests from last week, a 5.68 percent positivity rate, in its Tuesday update of the COVID-19 dashboard. The update brings last week’s total number of undergraduate cases to 40 and raises last week’s undergraduate positivity rate to .59 percent, up from .38 percent prior to the update.
Senior Associate Director of University Communications Ed Hayward said in an email to The Heights that the testing results added to last week’s numbers are not unexpected.
“At the end of the week we are performing a combination of symptomatic testing and targeted surveillance testing of those deemed to be close contacts of individuals who have tested positive,” Hayward said.
The University has previously said that it conducts symptomatic testing daily and asymptomatic surveillance testing, the vast majority of which is targeted, throughout the week.
Hayward noted in the email that the University’s community positivity rate for last week, .49 percent, was below the state average. The state’s COVID-19 dashboard on Tuesday reported a seven-day average positivity rate of 1 percent in Massachusetts.
The University reported two cases this week out of 783 tests for undergraduates, a positivity rate of .26 percent.
BC reported that 43 undergraduates were in isolation as of Tuesday—with 17 in isolation housing and 26 isolating at home—and that 124 undergraduates have recovered.
The University reported that it had conducted 39,289 total tests, with 170 positive cases, through Monday. These numbers include 26,115 undergraduate tests, with 167 undergraduate cases.
Featured Image by Maggie DiPatri / Heights Editor
