Penn State adds 32 COVID-19 cases since Friday, boosting total cases at University Park to 69
Penn State saw another 32 positive cases of COVID-19 since Friday among students at University Park, the university announced Tuesday.
With last week’s testing also updated, there are now 69 positive cases among University Park students since Aug. 7 — 66 of which came over the last 12 days. That’s a significant spike, especially when compared to the rest of Centre County, which boasted a biweekly average of 40 cases between May and July, among a population of roughly 120,000.
Based on data from the dashboard, Penn State saw 25 symptomatic positive cases out of 268 tests since Friday and seven asymptomatic cases — meaning no outward signs of infection — out of 910 tests. Seven symptomatic tests from last week are still pending results, and 220 asymptomatic tests still do not have results.
Those numbers were enough to convince two faculty-based groups, Coalition for a Just University and the local chapter of the American Association of University Professors, to call on the university to suspend in-person instruction for at least two weeks.
“People are feeling very anxious right now with the numbers,” said associate professor Michelle Rodino-Colocino, president of the local AAUP chapter. “And I would like to see Penn State move remote now.”
Added Sarah Townsend, an organizer for CJU/PSU: “The lack of transparency and the numbers that have been released so far lead CJU to believe that there is no organized and efficient testing effort, and for that reason we are calling on Penn State to follow the lead of other institutions such as Notre Dame, Pitt and Temple by suspending all in-person classes for two weeks. Hopefully the university will use that time to get its act together.”
It is unknown how high the case numbers might climb before a shutdown is triggered by the university. Although other universities, such as Syracuse, have outlined detailed closing plans, Penn State has declined to publicly release theirs.
At Syracuse, a “pause” — which moves instruction online — is triggered when an outbreak occurs involving 100 students or more. Elsewhere, pauses and shutdowns appear to come between 100 and 200 cases.
North Carolina (Chapel Hill) sent students home one week after classes started, when 177 students tested positive and 349 more were quarantined due to possible exposure. Similarly, Notre Dame paused in-person instruction for two weeks after 147 students tested positive between Aug. 3-17.
In New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo issued guidance last week that instructed colleges to suspend in-person instruction for two weeks if colleges have 100 cases or if positive cases equal 5% of their population or more over a two-week period.
When asked Tuesday if Pennsylvania has any similar guidelines, both the state Department of Health and the governor’s office did not immediately respond to messages from the Centre Daily Times seeking comment.
In response to Tuesday’s data, Townsend called for more widespread testing than the university’s current 1% daily surveillance, and she believed Penn State should released its case numbers daily like the state DOH. Rodino-Colocino said she would like to see the university involve the faculty more in the decision-making process.
“We feel that if the faculty had been consulted early on that we could’ve prevented the current state of affairs,” said Rodino-Colocino, whose group would like to see a default move to remote instruction until there are no positive cases for two weeks.
At Penn State’s main campus so far, there have been 42 symptomatic cases (10% positive case rate) and 27 asymptomatic cases (0.5% positive case rate). Per the dashboard, 23 students are currently in on-campus isolation while 26 are in on-campus quarantine.
Among the commonwealth campuses, the COVID-19 impact has so far been minimal. Penn State Behrend now has three positive cases (two asymptomatic, one symptomatic), while Penn State Schuylkill has one asymptomatic case. No other cases have been recorded at other campuses, as of Sunday.
No employees at University Park have been infected either.
Penn State also announced Tuesday it expanded testing capacity by opening a new site at the HUB Parking Deck, open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. through next Monday, for students identified via contact tracing.
“While we are seeing an uptick in the symptomatic positive numbers, this data reflects that our system is working as symptomatic students are seeking testing at University Health Services and we are reaching people through our contact tracing process,” Penn State President Eric Barron said in a written statement. “If we are to remain on our campuses for the rest of the fall semester, we absolutely must continue to be diligent in taking personal steps to slow the spread of the virus. This is a critical time.
“It’s vital that students do not travel over the Labor Day holiday weekend or at other times, whenever possible, so they do not contract the coronavirus elsewhere and bring it back to our campus communities. Students also are strongly urged to not host out-of-town guests, who, unbeknownst to them, may be infected.”
According to the state Department of Health, Centre County is now up 491 positive cases since the pandemic’s start, 444 confirmed and 47 probable.
This story was originally published September 1, 2020 at 1:49 PM.
