First Temple employee tests positive for COVID-19

Temple University reported its first positive COVID-19 case among an employee during the fall semester as total active cases rose to 237 on Thursday.

The employee was not a faculty member, wrote Ray Betzner, a spokesperson for the university, in an email to The Temple News.

In response to the rapidly rising case counts among students, Temple announced today all non-essential classes will remain online for the rest of the semester after initially suspending them for two weeks pending a final decision, The Temple News reported.

Based on the university’s classification system, the employee who tested positive was in a Temple facility at the time they were infectious, as was the case for nearly all students who have tested positive, according to the university’s case dashboard.