Nine new positives, none from surveillance testing in this week’s COVID-19 testing results

There were nine new positive coronavirus tests at Duke between Aug. 22 and Aug. 28, out of 5,642 total tests, according to data released Monday on the University’s COVID-19 testing tracker.

Among students, there were six positive tests out of 5,358 total, for a positivity rate of 0.11%. None of the 4,185 students who participated in surveillance testing were positive.

All three tests conducted came back positive among students who had symptoms or were determined to have been in close contact with someone who tested positive, and three of 1,170 entry tests for returning students came back positive.

There were also three new positive tests among faculty and staff out of 284 total, for a positivity rate of 1.06%. There were no positive surveillance tests out of 153 total, and three positives out of 131 tests conducted on faculty and staff who had symptoms or were identified through contact tracing.  

The number of positive tests for both students and faculty and staff fell compared to the Aug. 15 to Aug. 21 testing update, when Duke reported 12 new positives for students and 10 for faculty and staff. 

In total, 68 people are in precautionary quarantine, according to Monday’s update. That includes 54 students and 14 faculty and staff. A total of nine people are in isolation, including six students and three faculty and staff. 

Since Aug. 2, Duke has administered 17,040 tests and reported a total of 46 positives among faculty, staff and students. The University has conducted multiple kinds of testing, including entry testing of every returning student, testing based on contact tracing and pooled surveillance testing of asymptomatic people.