After reaching the halfway mark of the fall semester, Salisbury University’s COVID-19 positivity rate stands at just 0.2% over the past week, with 0.7% positivity over the last 30 days, according to the SU coronavirus dashboard.
Out of the nearly 2,000 tests administered on campus community members last week, only four positive cases of the virus were detected.
During his weekly COVID-19 briefing SU President Charles Wight did warn, however, that “as we head into the winter season, this is not the time to let our guard down,” and encouraged campus community members to continue adhering to the university’s social distancing and mask-wearing guidelines.
Wight announced that remote learning would remain an option for students in the spring despite the recently low positivity rates, though students will also have “more opportunities for the kind of face-to-face classes that SU has been famous for” next semester.
University members will continue to receive emails alerting them to schedule a COVID-19 test on a rotating basis to comply with the new monthly testing protocols, with the next available testing days designated for Oct. 20-21 and self-swabbing now being administered.
In addition to the monthly testing requirement, there will be another mandatory round of tests following the campus’ return from Thanksgiving break, with those intending to return required to schedule an SU COVID-19 test between the Sunday after Thanksgiving and the Thursday of that week.
Students, staff and faculty can schedule their post-Thanksgiving test now using a link at the bottom of the SU's COVID-19 Testing Information page.
Wight confirmed that fall semester classes are still slated to conclude on Friday, Dec. 11.
For more information on SU’s new monthly testing protocols or to view the latest university COVID-19 test results, visit https://www.salisbury.edu/coronavirus/testing-info.aspx.
By JAKOB TODD
News editor
Featured image: Salisbury University Facebook page.