A week after administrators sent out a video warning of a potential increase in campus safety precautions, Duke’s positive COVID-19 test numbers decreased for the second consecutive week.
Out of 22,859 tests conducted on 13,620 students, faculty and staff between Feb. 1 and Feb. 7, there were 56 positive results, for a total positivity rate of 0.24%. Sixteen of the 56 people who tested positive were faculty and staff, while the remaining 40 were students.
The total positivity rate for the 20,020 tests conducted on students was 0.20%. Sixteen out of 178 students symptomatic or contact-traced students tested positive, for a positivity rate of 8.99%. Twenty-three out of the 19,841 surveillance tests were positive, for a positivity rate of 0.12%. The one student who was entry-tested received a positive result.
The total positivity rate for the 2,839 faculty and staff tests was 0.56%. The positivity rates for surveillance tests and symptomatic or contact traced tests conducted on faculty and staff were 0.07% and 9.09%, respectively.
The total number of positive tests this week decreased from last week’s total by 20, from 76 to 56. Fourteen fewer student tests and six fewer faculty and staff tests yielded positive results this week.
The total number of positive tests last week, during the period from Jan. 25 to Jan 31, was lower than the total number of positives from the period from Jan. 18 to Jan. 24, during which 62 students and 20 faculty and staff received positive test results, for a total of 82. To date, the week of Jan. 18 saw more positive test results than any other week.
While the test results from this week and last week show the beginnings of a downward trend, there have been more positive tests every week of the spring semester than there were during any week of the fall semester. Furthermore, as of last week, this semester’s cumulative total of positive tests has already surpassed the total of all positive results from the fall semester.
In a video message emailed to all undergraduate students Feb. 2, Gary Bennett, vice provost for undergraduate education, and Mary Pat McMahon, vice provost and vice president for student affairs, said the consistently high numbers of positive tests could lead to a need for increased campus restrictions.
Bennett and McMahon said that these restrictions could include a switch to virtual classes or a mandatory two-week sequestering period, during which students would be required to remain in their dorm rooms except when picking up food.
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Anna Zolotor is a Trinity senior and recruitment chair for The Chronicle's 118th volume. She was previously news editor for Volume 117.