Temple University COVID-19 briefing: March 5

Every week, The Temple News will provide a brief breakdown of COVID-19 trends and cases at Temple University.

Case counts include students and employees registered at any of Temple’s Philadelphia-area campuses, according to the university’s case dashboard.

Here’s what happened this week:

What happened with Temple cases? 

On March 5, Temple reported 85 active cases of COVID-19, including 84 among students and one among employees, according to its case dashboard. 

Two students living in university housing tested positive for COVID-19, according to the dashboard.

Temple recorded 33 new cases of COVID-19 this week, according to the dashboard. 

The number of tests Temple administered fell to 6,106 this week, down from 8,428 last week, according to the dashboard. 

The university recorded a 0.54 percent positivity rate among those tested this week, down from a rate of 0.62 percent last week, according to the dashboard.

“The positivity rate continues to be below one percent, and that is a good thing,” wrote Mark Denys, director of Student Health Services, in an email to The Temple News. “We have not seen major outbreaks on campus and still encourage everyone to be vigilant and wear masks, be physically distant, use proper hand hygiene, stay home if sick and avoid gatherings outside of their immediate household. Things are moving in the right direction, but we cannot let our guard down.”

What happened with cases in Philadelphia?

Philadelphia recorded 194 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, down from 295 on Feb. 24. 

The city averaged 240 new cases per day from Feb. 17 to March 3, according to city data. 

The city averaged 260 new cases per day from Feb. 10 to Feb. 24, according to city data.

The ZIP codes 19121 and 19122, which encompass Main Campus, have recorded 4,488 positive cases of COVID-19 and 79 deaths combined since March 2020, according to city data. 

Philadelphia has recorded 119,874 confirmed cases and 3,170 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic, according to the Philadelphia Department of Public Health.