The University of St. Thomas is urging students to take a coronavirus test before heading home for Thanksgiving following a sudden increase in cases on campus.
The school said Monday that 207 staff and students have tested positive in the last two weeks — more than the total from the previous six weeks.
The spike is partly the result of fall break and Halloween parties, contact tracers learned.
Officials responded by implementing a two-week “quiet period” — halting in-person activities unrelated to instruction and giving students and faculty permission to take their classes online where possible.
In a message to students last week, the school strongly discouraged going to bars or hosting social gatherings.
“Please be responsible and think of your families, friends and community members; limiting your exposure between now and Thanksgiving will greatly reduce the risk of you bringing this virus back home over the holidays,” health and safety staff wrote.
St. Thomas plans to continue with its hybrid model of instruction after Thanksgiving, keeping residence halls open but promoting alternatives to in-person classes.
The school says there has been no known classroom transmission, but “a small number” have been infected elsewhere on campus and several were unable to determine how they got sick.
Although serious cases of COVID-19 among college-age students are rare, St. Thomas has seen a troubling increase among employees. Fifteen employees tested positive last week, compared to a total of 16 employees over the previous 10 weeks.
Students on the St. Paul campus, even those showing no signs of infection, are encouraged to take a free saliva test at Anderson Field House between 8:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. Wednesday or Thursday.
OTHER SCHOOLS
The pandemic is quickly spreading throughout the state, with daily cases, hospitalizations and deaths reaching new highs.
But colleges, at least through Nov. 7, haven’t seen the same rate of growth. Weekly reports from the Minnesota Department of Health show a flat trend in new cases and just two COVID-19 deaths of students or college staff.
However, more recent data from individual colleges suggests the pandemic may be catching up to them.
At Boynton Health at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, 37 percent of its 719 positive tests this school year came during the week ending Thursday. And the test positivity rate that week, 20 percent, was double the typical rate.
The U’s Field House is hosting free testing from noon to 6 p.m. Monday and Tuesday.
- Likewise, one-third of the 123 cases this school year at St. Catherine University were reported during the week ending Thursday.
- At Hamline University, 39 of the 71 students to test positive this fall have done so recently enough that they’re in isolation; 13 employees have been sick, too.
- Macalester College, which limited dorm living and in-person classes to freshmen, transfers and international students to start the school year, has had just 26 known cases. The school reports that of 308 tests administered through Sunday, just one came back positive.