Pitt reports 37 new coronavirus cases over the weekend, 68 in a week

The University of Pittsburgh recorded 36 new covid-19 infections among students over the weekend, and one infected employee.

Since last Monday, the university has recorded 68 students and two faculty or staff members testing positive, according to its covid-19 data dashboard. The five-day moving average of positive student cases per day has increased from 7.6 to 10, and there are now 78 students in isolation.

“We are still seeing an increase in cases of covid-19 in our Pittsburgh campus community – and double-digit case counts – but the rate of increase over the last four days is not exponential,” an email sent to the Pitt community reads. “That does not mean we’re in the clear. On the contrary. This is a critical juncture.”

The email instructed students who traveled for Labor Day to shelter in place for 14 days upon returning to campus and to participate in contact tracing efforts to flatten the curve.

The university has reported daily case counts in the double digits for four of the last seven days, continuing a trend of rising cases. University officials said last week that most of the infections are among students who live off-campus. Meanwhile, infections among faculty and staff members have remained low – there are now four active cases. There have been 11 faculty and staff cases since Aug. 1, according to the dashboard.

Pitt has instilled several mitigation strategies to prevent covid-19 from spreading within the community, including having students shelter in place for seven days both before and after arriving on campus. The university last week updated guidelines to require the use of face coverings everywhere.

“The higher numbers of positive cases we are seeing are due to individuals not wearing face coverings and not adhering to physical distancing, leading us to strengthen our guidelines,” John Williams, leader of the Covid-19 Medical Response Office, said in a statement on Friday.

The university is also using surveillance testing of asymptomatic students to monitor the virus’ community spread. So far, only eight students out of about 2,200 have tested positive this way — less than half a percent.

“While surveillance testing shows us the majority of students are being careful, the rise in symptomatic cases shows that even if a small number of people aren’t being careful, it can have an outsized impact on the entire community,” the statement continued. “Every student should remember that they are taking these precautions for themselves but also for their friends and the community that we are in.”