The University of Alabama on Monday released the first numbers of on-campus COVID-19 test results that raised alarm bells internally.
A total of 531 confirmed cases between students, faculty and staff were reported on the Tuscaloosa campus since classes resumed Aug. 19, UA announced Monday evening. The dashboard did not include how many were tested Aug. 19 through Aug. 23 or the rate of positive tests.
The cumulative figure includes positive tests on UA System campuses identified through sentinel testing, point of care testing in campus health centers, and self-reported tests from private providers,” the dashboard reads. “Entry testing is not included in this calculation.”
The school previously announced re-entry testing for students yielded a less-than 1 percent positivity rate. The new dashboard put the positive test rate for reentry at 1.04 percent of the 29,938 tests. The new numbers do not include those 311 positive tests from reentry.
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The news came six hours after the City of Tuscaloosa announced bars would be closed for the next two weeks and bar service at restaurants must cease. UA officials did not give specifics when asked about the situation at the 11 a.m. news conference announcing the new measures.
“Our challenge is not the students,” UA president Stuart Bell said Monday morning. “Our challenge is the virus and there’s a difference, folks. What we have to do is identify where does the virus thrive and where does the virus spread and how can we work together with our students, with our faculty and with our staff to make sure that we minimize those places, those incidents. It’s not student behavior, OK. It’s how do we have protocols so that we make it to where our students can be successful, and we can minimize the impact of the virus.”
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And there’s multiple prongs to that from setting up isolation space to disciplining violations of COVID-19 mandates. Bell said he didn’t know exactly how many students have been penalized under new rules implemented this month.
“But I know a number of students are going through the student conduct process,” he said.
Isolation and quarantine spaces are not at capacity, said Dr. Ricky Friend, dean of the UA College of Community Health Sciences.
“But we are concerned that each day that goes by,” he said, “there might be more cases.”
The dashboard released Monday evening stated 19.78 percent of the isolation space was currently occupied.
Friend said they were working on getting additional space on top of the 450 beds already in place to isolate and quarantine students either exposed to the virus or have tested positive.
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UA vice president for Student Life Myron Pope told student leaders last Friday they were on pace to fill those spaces within the next week and a half, according to audio of the meeting acquired by AL.com.
“A question we all want to know is are we at the breaking point?” Alabama president Stuart Bell said Monday. “What’s the lever that’s going to cause us to have to change it. Basically, I think it goes back to flattening this curve, so we are able to accommodate our current operations and make sure we are able to keep the students healthy. So, there really is no single answer. I don’t want to point you all to look at this graph or look at this data and know we can draw a line and say this is what we’re going to do because it’s a very dynamic situation -- very dynamic over the weekend as we saw positive cases increasing to again, today, cause us to take more steps. We’re going to continue to do that.”
Michael Casagrande is a reporter for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @ByCasagrande or on Facebook.