NC State University has a new COVID-19 cluster, its first in more than a week
N.C. State reported its first new COVID-19 cluster in more than a week on Tuesday night.
The university sent out an alert detailing one cluster in an off-campus apartment complex where 10 N.C. State students have tested positive for the coronavirus.
The school has now reported 32 clusters of COVID-19 since classes began last month, with students contracting the virus in residence halls, fraternity and sorority houses and in off-campus apartments
The state defines a cluster as five or more cases in close proximity.
While being the first reported cluster since late August, it’s also the first N.C. State cluster since the Sept. 6 deadline for students to be out of university housing. Over two weeks in August, N.C. State reported sharp increases in COVID cases, leading the school to move undergraduate classes entirely online and later to close dorms to most students.
N.C. State’s latest coronavirus case count is 996, with only 90 new cases reported since Aug. 31. There is a considerable lag-time, though, in the university’s numbers, with the latest reported data coming from Sept. 5.
College-age people 18-24 are Wake County’s top group for coronavirus cases, with 22% of the county’s cases since the pandemic began. But that group didn’t claim the top spot until the county’s colleges resumed classes for the fall semester.
As of Sept. 9, the state Health and Human Services Department reports 16% of the state’s total coronavirus caseload among people ages 18 to 24.
This story was originally published September 9, 2020 at 11:50 AM.
