Bowling Green State University is now offering testing to students, faculty and staff five days a week.
The boost in testing comes as the semester gets underway.
In the past week, the university has reported 65 new cases of COVID-19 – 52 students, 73 percent of whom live off-campus, eight staff, and five faculty. That’s down from 183 cases reported in the 10 days before. But, as Chef Health Officer Ben Batey noted in his weekly update Tuesday that during that time increased testing of both students already in Bowling Green and those preparing to return was being done.
Batey said while he’s seeing the trend in cases ticking up, it is still lower than what’s happening statewide.
From Jan. 11 through Jan. 17, 1,083 tests have been conducted, detecting 64 cases, a 5.9 percent positivity rate. The positivity rate statewide is 17 percent. Since the first of the year, BGSU has conducted 4,767 tests, detecting 188 positive cases, a 3.9 percent positivity rate.
Six students who have tested positive are now in isolation on campus while another 20 students who have been exposed are in quarantine in campus housing.
Batey noted that while vaccines are rolling out “”those vaccines will be severely limited on the frnt end.” It will be awhile before BGSU will be offering clinics on campus to inoculate faculty and staff.
While teachers for grades kindergarten through 12 will be vaccinated earlier, he said, that does not apply to faculty in higher education.
