UGA: COVID cases hold steady over the past week

Cases of coronavirus at the University of Georgia remained flat last week, with a total of three dozen positive tests for COVID 19 for the week that ended this past Sunday. The University’s Wednesday report shows 32 cases among UGA students, three among staffers, and just one positive test for a faculty member.

From Greg Trevor, UGA…

More surveillance tests were performed than the previous week—776 v. 638 the week before—at the Legion Field surveillance site and in a satellite location, and the positivity rate declined. Of the 776 tested, seven were positive, for a  positivity rate less than 1 percent  (.90 percent).

“I am encouraged to see the number of participants in our surveillance testing program increase, but I would like to see even more members of our campus community being tested,” said Dr. Garth Russo, executive director of the University Health Center and chair of UGA’s Medical Oversight Task Force. “It’s also a relief to see the number of cases holding relatively constant. We’ve almost made it through the Spring Semester, and we need to remain focused on making good decisions in the remaining weeks—getting vaccinated, being tested, continuing to wear our masks and maintaining social distancing.”

As of Friday, April 18, the University Health Center has administered 14,515 vaccines, with 5,779 members of the UGA community being fully vaccinated. Many members of our community have received their vaccines at other locations, improving our overall progress toward herd immunity. All faculty, staff and students over the age of 16 are now eligible to be vaccinated, and the UHC can accommodate up to 1,000 vaccines per day.

In order to stimulate interest in vaccines and surveillance testing, UGA continues to offer special “Georgia Strong/Dawg Strong” T-shirts and other incentives at the Legion Field test site and University Health Center vaccine site.

The University reports test results on a weekly basis each Wednesday on the University Health Center website: https://uhs.uga.edu/healthtopics/covid-19-health-and-exposure-updates. The UHC website also now includes a Vaccine Dashboard that reports the total amount of vaccine received and administered through the previous week, as well as the number of vaccines given by the UHC within the prior week.

The University Health Center and Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratories are also meeting daily demand for testing with saliva-based testing that is free to faculty, staff and students.

The University is maintaining a stock of nearly 450 rooms to accommodate isolation and quarantine housing, as needed. At present, less than 1 percent of the housing stock—0.7 percent—is in use.

The University of Georgia community consists of nearly 50,000 students, faculty and staff.

Cox Media Group