Though Penn State’s in-person classes have ended for the fall semester, COVID-19 testing continues at the university.
Penn State reported 47 new cases at the University Park campus in its semi-weekly COVID-19 dashboard update. The new positives included 43 among students and four among employees.
Friday’s reported increase brings the campus community’s total to 4,965 since Aug. 7, including 46 employee cases. Of those, 63 are considered active. Three students are in on-campus isolation and three are in on-campus quarantine as of Friday.
For the week of Nov. 27-Dec. 3, 40 students tested positive from 580 completed tests. Four employees tested positive since the last update on Tuesday, bringing the week’s total to five employee cases out of 186 completed tests.
An additional three student positives were reported from tests performed the week of Nov. 20-26 that had previously been awaiting. For that week, a total of 65 students tested positive out of 931 completed tests. Six employees tested positive from 304 tests completed Nov. 20-26.
Thanksgiving break brought an end to in-person classes for the semester, as previously planned, and remote instruction will continue through the end of final exams on Dec. 18.
Most students living on campus have departed for the remainder of the calendar year and the random testing program that had been in place throughout the semester has concluded. Those that do remain in university residence halls, however, are required to have weekly COVID-19 testing at the Hintz Family Alumni Center through Jan. 18, the day before spring semester classes start.
Walk-up on-demand testing will be available at the Alumni Center for all students — living on or off campus — from noon to 5 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays through Jan. 18. Students living off campus are urged to be tested regularly.
Penn State expects to return to in-person classes for the spring semester on Jan. 19 but has not yet announced plans for pre-arrival testing.
Pennsylvania Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine recently announced several targeted mitigation measures as cases and hospitalizations across Pennsylvania continue to surge. Among those are recommendations for for colleges and universities, which include testing all students at the beginning of each semester, when returning to campus after a break and to have regular screening testing throughout the semester.
Prior to the start of the fall semester, the university did not require testing of all students, but instead performed targeted testing of about 23,000 students coming to campus from COVID-19 hotspots. Penn State has conducted 43,859 student and employee random screening tests and 46,215 on-demand tests throughout the semester to date.
