Another Temple University student tested positive for COVID-19, raising the number of active on-campus cases to six and the total number of cases to seven, according to the university’s COVID-19 dashboard.
On-campus cases are defined as someone who was in Temple facilities at the time they were infectious, while an off-campus case concerns someone who lives near a Temple campus and was not known to be in Temple facilities while infectious, according to the dashboard.
Temple first reported two students on campus who tested positive on Tuesday.
The university is requiring students who move into campus housing this week to be tested for COVID-19 after they arrive, The Temple News reported.
So far, 1,580 students have been tested at the Aramark STAR Complex, said Ray Betzner, a spokesperson for the university.
The positive cases do not change Temple’s plan to continue moving in students or begin the fall semester with a hybrid learning model of in-person and online classes on Monday, Betzner said.
“These numbers are very, very low,” Betzner added. “We hope it continues that way.”
Betzner added that those students who tested positive were interviewed for contact tracing by Student Health Services.
Students who test positive can either return home to quarantine or stay in quarantine and isolation rooms in Johnson and Hardwick Halls for two weeks, The Temple News reported.
Students who need to quarantine should communicate with their professors to do their classes remotely while in isolation, Betzner said. After two weeks, they will be allowed to resume their in-person classes, Betzner added.
I think before infected students are allowed to return to class or school, they should be retested.
Temple wants to find out the hard way how to be socially responsible. It’s an irony coming from an academic institution that has a purpose of building and teaching knowledge to do something so blatantly stupid and careless.
This is a shining example of poor leadership in a time of need and the issues will certainly get worse before they get better.