Durham Reporter

Duke University issued the following announcement on Oct. 19.

Duke University’s comprehensive COVID-19 testing program received results from 15,143 tests administered to students and faculty/staff from October 10 – October 16, 2020. In total, there were 20 positive results – 17 students and three faculty/staff. The positivity rate was 0.132 percent.

Summary:

In this period:

• 13,348 surveillance tests were administered to asymptomatic students with four positive results. An additional 110 tests were administered to students who reported symptoms or were identified through contact tracing with thirteen positive results. All students who tested positive are now in isolation. Eight students who had previously tested positive were cleared to return to campus.
• These test results include seven of the nine students who were part of the cluster of nine individuals reported last week.  The other two individuals in the cluster had been counted in the prior week’s update.
• Tests administered to student-athletes are included in the surveillance category.
• 1,685 tests were administered to faculty/staff; 1,559 surveillance tests yielded no positive results and 126 tests to symptomatic or contact traced individuals had three positive results. Two of the three faculty/staff members are working from home and have not been on campus since March.  All of those individuals are isolating at home. Five faculty/staff members who had been in isolation were cleared to return to normal activities.

Overall:

• Duke has administered 102,800 tests to students and faculty/staff since August 2 and has recorded 127 positive results; 105 of those individuals have been cleared to return to normal activity.
• This week, a total of 14,907 tests were administered through the surveillance program.

Student testing results from this period:

• 13,458 tests were administered to students
• Surveillance testing included students living on- and off-campus
• Seventeen students tested positive, four of whom were asymptomatic; the rest were identified because they reported symptoms or through contact tracing, and several of them were already in precautionary quarantine due to potential exposure to an individual who had previously tested positive
• Sixteen of the seventeen students who tested positive reside in multiple off campus locations.
• Thirteen of the students who tested positive are undergraduates; twelve of them live off campus in four different locations and one lives on campus; the four graduate students are in different programs and live at different locations
• Of the thirteen undergraduates who live off campus and tested positive this week, seven of them live in the same off-campus apartment building
• All students who tested positive are in isolation and being monitored by Duke Student Health and continuing their coursework remotely
• Duke has more than 300 individual beds for residential students who need to be moved to a secure and supportive isolation facility 

Students cleared to return to activities during this period:

• Eight students who previously tested positive were cleared to return to campus after being in isolation
• 168 students who had been in precautionary quarantine due to contact tracing were released 

Contact tracing and precautionary quarantine for students during this period:

• 110 students were placed in precautionary quarantine because they were found to have been potentially exposed to an individual who tested positive; these students are being monitored by Duke Student Health and continuing their coursework remotely. The majority of students in quarantine and isolation reside off-campus.
• Students who live in Duke-provided housing will be quarantined in campus facilities. Students who live off-campus must quarantine in their residence. 

Faculty/staff testing results from this period:

• 1,685 tests were administered to faculty/staff, including 1,559 through the surveillance program and 126 to individuals who reported symptoms
• Three faculty/staff members received positive test results, all of whom reported having symptoms, and all are in isolation at home.
• Five faculty/staff members who had previously tested positive have recovered and were cleared to return to normal activities
• Thirteen faculty/staff members were asked to quarantine as a result of contact tracing and eleven employees were released from precautionary quarantine and cleared to return to work 

Tests administered in this period:

1. Surveillance testing for asymptomatic students and faculty/staff
2. Clinical testing for individuals who report symptoms or who are identified through contact tracing

More information on Duke’s COVID-19 testing program can be found at https://coronavirus.duke.edu/covid-testing/. Results are updated every Monday.

Original source: https://today.duke.edu/2020/10/twenty-test-positive-covid-oct-10-16