After decreasing for three weeks, Duke’s positive COVID-19 cases ticked upward this week, according to data posted Tuesday on Duke’s COVID-19 tracker.
Thirty-nine students, faculty and staff tested positive for COVID-19 during the week of April 5 to 11, an increase of nine cases from the previous week. A total of 20,940 cases were conducted, for a positivity rate of 0.19%.
Twenty-nine out of 18,727 student tests yielded positive results, for a positivity rate of 0.15%. The remaining 10 positive tests came from the 2,213 conducted on faculty and staff, giving this group a higher positivity rate of 0.45%.
Eight faculty and staff and 139 students were sent to precautionary quarantine. Twenty-six faculty and staff and 100 students were released from quarantine.
After more than 1,800 students received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine at Duke’s on-campus vaccination center, the University announced Tuesday that it would temporarily pause the administration of this particular vaccine. This follows the decision by the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services to halt its use of the J&J vaccine because of six cases of severe blood clotting in women who received the shot.
Students who had signed up for J&J vaccine appointments this week will be offered the Moderna shot instead.
President Vincent Price announced in a Friday email that all undergraduate and graduate students will be required to present proof of COVID-19 vaccination before enrolling for the fall semester. An increasing number of Duke’s peer institutions have announced similar policies.
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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.