COVID-19 cases at Bowling Green State University have increased predictably as students have returned to campus, and testing has been ramped up in anticipation of the start of the new semester.
Ben Batey, BGSU’s chief health officer, said in his weekly update that further increase is expected, but he hopes those will soon plateau and then decline.
At that point larger gatherings and events may be possible, he said. In the meantime, he continued to urge students to keep their social circles small, limiting them to roommates or a few friends.
On its dashboard, the university reports conducting 3,684 tests. These were on-demand tests of symptomatic and asymptomatic individuals as well as those who may have been exposed.
Of those, 124 tested positive, a 3.4-percent positivity rate. That compares to an 18-percent positivity rate statewide.
The positivity rate for residence hall students who took at-home PCR tests before returning to campus was 4.3 percent.
Those students who tested positive were able to isolate at home, Batey said, and not risk travel.
The university now has 183 cases – 170 students, nine staff, and four faculty. These numbers include Firelands.
Five students who have tested positive are isolated in campus housing, and six are quarantined in residence halls.
“We’re continuing our testing program throughout the spring semester,” Batey said. “We want to make testing as readily available and convenient as possible, so if someone wakes up with symptoms they can get a test either that day or the next day.”
The university regularly updates its testing schedule.
