Wednesday, Sept. 3, the University of Colorado Boulder reported that they are expecting to see a large increase in positive COVID-19 cases.
The university’s COVID-19 dashboard reported that 21 people had tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday.
“Our CU Boulder testing, contact tracing and Boulder County Public Health (BCPH) collaborations alerted us this morning to a potential increase in positive COVID-19 cases among our on and off-campus students,” said Dan Jones, Associate Vice Chancellor for Integrity Safety and Compliance.
The university reported that four residence halls had an outbreak of COVID-19: Darley North, Darley South, Libby Hall and Willard Hall.
The outbreaks were first discovered by a wastewater test, performed by the university.
“As a precaution, early this afternoon we notified students in Darley North, Darley South and Libby Hall who had not already done so this week to complete saliva-based monitoring tests today to identify potential cases and implement measures for containing community spread,” Jones continued, in a release published on the university’s website.
In a statement provided to the Independent, the university said that “We notified all students in the affected residence halls urging them to get tested at one of our monitoring sites on campus if they hadn’t done so already this week.”
They did not mention if those students living in residence halls would be required to take a COVID-19 test.
In addition to the residence halls, a fraternity and sorority both had confirmed cases of COVID-19. The university said that they are working to provide support to the students living in the affected houses.
Despite the outbreak, the university is still trying to keep students in-person.
“There is no plan for a change in operating status at this time,” said the statement.
“The next few days will be critical to our ability to maintain our current operating status. It is imperative that we all continue to follow public health orders, avoid large gatherings, wear masks and practice physical distancing,” Jones said.
“If a student has symptoms of COVID-19,” the university’s statement said, “they should contact their medical provider. All symptomatic students may be tested through the Public Health Clinic at Wardenburg, and there is availability of same-day appointments with healthcare providers and for testing.”
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Henry Larson at henry.larson@colorado.edu.