New Student COVID-19 Cases Double At UA Over Previous Week

Tuscaloosa AL

23 October, 2020

3:59 PM

Description

TUSCALOOSA, AL. — New cases of the novel coronavirus among University of Alabama students saw a noticeable uptick over the last week, but remain in the double-digit range as cases continue to rise across the state and country. According to Friday's update of the University of Alabama System's COVID-19 Dashboard, 68 new cases were confirmed on the Tuscaloosa campus from Oct. 16-22, which is double the number of cases confirmed over the previous week of testing. Additionally, a total of 14 new cases were confirmed for staffers and faculty at UA. The number of new student cases is the highest total reported by the university during a single week of testing since the week of Sept. 11-17, when the system confirmed 119 new cases. Click here to subscribe to our daily email newsletters and breaking news alerts delivered to your inbox and mobile devices for free. You can also support local journalism by donating as little as $5 a month to become a supporting member or by downloading our free Patch mobile app. Since the onset of the pandemic, the Tuscaloosa campus has confirmed a total of 2,680 COVID-19 cases among students and 284 among faculty and staff. In terms of isolation space, UA is at 3.09% occupancy, with 16 of the university's 518 isolation rooms currently in use. Another interesting data point reports UA administering 1,124 tests this week, marking the highest level of testing since before Labor Day weekend. To date, Tuscaloosa County has confirmed 7,269 total COVID-19 cases, according to the latest data from the Alabama Department of Public Health, along with 117 confirmed deaths. As of Thursday, a total of 61 inpatients were being treated for COVID-19 at DCH Regional Medical Center and DCH Northport. The current number of inpatient cases has seen an uptick from recent days, but few major fluctuations compared to when the hospital reported 62 inpatient cases two weeks ago. Follow Patch here for updates or on Facebook and Twitter.