In what officials call a ‘sharp decrease,’ the University of Alabama experienced its third-straight week of a downward trend in COVID-19 cases. But it’s unclear just how many students and faculty have been tested.

This week marks a significant decline in weekly positive cases, especially considering the massive spike four weeks ago when 846 students tested positive for COVID-19 in one week. The University of Alabama experienced 48 positive cases this week, which was down 60% from last week’s 119. In total, positive cases have topped 2,500 since the first week of school. 

SENTINEL TESTING

Lower than expected sentinel testing numbers and a lack of data on private tests, however, make it difficult to compare weekly case rates.

The UA System COVID-19 Dashboard lists 371 sentinel tests performed for the week of Sept. 13 yielding one positive result. However, this is a far cry from the University’s goal to perform sentinel tests on up to 5% of the campus population each week.

“Weekly testing allows our program to provide a regular snapshot to each participating school,” Guidesafe Director Bob Phillips said in a press conference last month. “This helps them evaluate the extent of virus prevalence and respond accordingly.”

The goal of sentinel testing is to test a portion of the student body are asymptomatic, and it is mandatory among students living on campus, participating in intramural athletics, registered student organizations that hold in-person meetings of 10 or more, or who have clinical activities and will be on campus during the semester. The UA System has yet to provide details on the amount of private tests reported each week.

The University of Alabama would have to test 1,053 students and faculty each week based on reentry numbers to reach its sentinel testing goal. In each of the past two weeks, the University has struggled to meet even half of that goal.

FACULTY TESTING

Faculty positive rates have remained relatively steady over the past four weeks with 15 faculty and staff members testing positive this week as compared to last week’s 17. Overall, 66 faculty and staff members have tested positive since classes started. 

ISOLATION

Isolation space occupancy was 1.74%, which was half of last week’s occupancy. For the first time, the dashboard included the number of rooms occupied rather than a percentage alone. There are 518 rooms available, nine of which are currently occupied by COVID-19-positive students.