27 Penn State students test positive for COVID-19 in week, with tests still pending
Twenty-seven Penn State students attending the University Park campus have tested positive this week for COVID-19 with more than 1,000 tests still pending results, according to the university’s COVID-19 dashboard.
According to the data Penn State released late Friday afternoon, which includes results from Aug. 21-27, 14 students were positive out of 125 symptomatic tests — meaning the students showed clear symptoms — and another 13 were positive out of 2,825 asymptomatic tests, which were given randomly to students who showed no outward signs of infection.
Nearly 30% of test results are not yet accounted for — 1,195 asymptomatic tests and 35 symptomatic tests — so the positive cases are expected to rise.
“We must all remain extremely vigilant and continue to adhere vigorously to the safety protocols that have been put in place to mitigate the spread of the virus,” Penn State President Eric Barron said in a written statement.
According to the dashboard, since Aug. 7, 30 total students now have COVID-19. No Penn State employees or volunteers have tested positive.
Centre County, home to Penn State, has largely avoided the more severe repercussions of COVID-19, as there have been an average of about 20 cases per week between May and July, based on data from the state Department of Health.
It’s difficult to know what percentage of the county’s cases are from Penn State in a given week because it’s likely the DOH’s numbers lag behind at least 24 hours. During the same Aug. 21-27 time frame, for instance, the county had just 30 cases compared to Penn State’s reported 27 — meaning, on paper, it appears the university has accounted for 90% of the county’s cases. Which is highly unlikely.
Penn State’s coronavirus cases come on the heels of several incidents last week that drew the ire of Barron and other officials. Two fraternities faced summary suspensions for holding gatherings, and hundreds of freshmen in East Halls gathered outside for an impromptu hour or so of twerking, dancing and partying — which led to a petition where more than 4,500 called on the university to send the freshmen home.
According to the university, additional testing at those dorms and frats “has not revealed concerning outcomes at this time.”
“It is very early, and we have to take care in interpreting the results,” Kelly Wolgast, director of the COVID-19 Operations Control Center, said in a written statement. “Of course, we’ll be looking closely at the surveillance testing data, which currently has a 48-hour or earlier turnaround time. It’s important to remain vigilant and understand more data is coming and will continue to come in.”
Based on reports, the university is able to test more than 400 symptomatic students per day — about 100 via its own equipment and another 320 through Quest Diagnostics — while testing about 1% of the university population daily via asymptomatic tests with the help of Vault Health. The symptomatic tests can have rapid sample results ready within a few hours, while the asymptomatic tests take about 48 hours.
According to Penn State’s dashboard, 25 students are currently in isolation while another 19 are in quarantine.
Only one commonwealth campus, Penn State Behrend, saw a positive case this past week — with one student.
This story was originally published August 28, 2020 at 4:27 PM.
