UNC Chapel Hill announces new COVID-19 cluster in a dorm. It’s the 11th on campus.
UNC-Chapel Hill reported a new COVID-19 outbreak in a residence hall on Tuesday, bringing the total number of coronavirus clusters on campus to 11.
The latest cluster was found at the Koury residence hall.
The university also reported 48 new cases among students in one day, with new cases in Granville Towers, Ehringhaus, Hinton James and Morrison dorms.
The update was posted on UNC’s COVID-19 dashboard Tuesday afternoon. It shows the number of new daily cases has been steadily declining since Aug. 19, when the university reported 91 new cases and remote learning began. But, last week there was a 32.2% positivity rate among students who were tested, according to the dashboard.
Eight of the coronavirus clusters have been in campus dorms and three have been in fraternity and sorority houses. The state defines a cluster as five or more cases in close proximity.
UNC did not say how many students tested positive in the Koury cluster, but the individuals identified are isolating and receiving medical monitoring.
Koury is a coed, suite-style dorm on Southern Campus.
UNC reported more than 200 new COVID-19 cases among students over the weekend, and there have been nearly 700 cases among students and employees since classes started on Aug. 10. The university moved classes online for the fall just one week after beginning the semester after a spike in coronavirus cases on campus and multiple COVID-19 clusters in UNC dorms and Greek houses.
On its COVID-19 dashboard, UNC reports 4,666 students have been tested with 784 positive results since February. And 51 employees have also been infected with COVID-19 in that time frame.
As of Tuesday afternoon, the state Health and Human Services Department reports 15% of the state’s total coronavirus caseload among people ages 18 to 24.
This story was originally published August 25, 2020 at 3:52 PM with the headline "UNC Chapel Hill announces new COVID-19 cluster in a dorm. It’s the 11th on campus.."
