There are 637 current active COVID-19 positives within the ASU community, 628 are students and nine are employees, according to an update from the University Thursday night.
The University reported 505 cases are off campus in the metropolitan Phoenix area and a total of 96 are in isolation at the Tempe campus. The other 27 student cases are on the Downtown Phoenix, West and Polytechnic campuses.
Since Aug. 1, there have been a cumulative 1,385 students who have tested positive for the coronavirus and 28 cumulative employees. The student positive cumulative case number increased by 80 since an update Wednesday. Faculty positive cases rose by three.
Since the last update on Sept. 7, total active cases have decreased by 188.
The University reported Thursday 879 students and 142 employees had been rolled off the active positive case list. After meeting the guidelines to return to campus, students and faculty are rolled off the active positive case list.
The University announced Wednesday it would start reporting both cumulative and current cases. But the cumulative numbers released Wednesday, when subtracted by the number of those cleared, did not equal the active number of cases within the student or employee body.
An asterisk was added to the faculty cumulative number cleared for release that indicated the number included some positives that were confirmed prior to Aug. 1. A University spokesperson confirmed the same was true of students.
Before returning to campus, students and employees must spend 10 days in isolation if they never experienced symptoms. Those who did experience symptoms must also spend 10 days in isolation along with 24 hours with no fever and no use of fever-reducing medication, according to the University's coronavirus FAQ page.
In accordance with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines, those who test positive for the virus do not have to test negative before returning to campus.
READ MORE: ASU's cumulative COVID-19 cases do not add up
ASU has collected 50,533 tests since Aug. 1 and using that number as the denominator and cumulative cases as the numerator, the community's percent positivity rate stands at roughly 2.8%.
Because no operational changes were announced, students did not receive an email Thursday night regarding the update from the University. Housing is still operating in mode three and learning is still taking place under mode two. The third housing mode includes increased security, a no external visitor policy and a de-densification process for residence halls with communal bathrooms and living spaces.
The second learning mode allows students to attend classes using ASU Sync where some students are present for instruction in-person and others attend through Zoom.
On Wednesday, President Michael Crow sent a letter to Cara Christ, the Director of the Arizona Department of Health Services, and the Department of Liquor Licenses and Control to report four restaurants and bars on Mill Avenue in Tempe of potential violations of the state's guidelines for reopening over Labor Day weekend.
READ MORE: Crow reports Mill Avenue restaurants that may be violating health guidelines
Six students have also been placed on interim suspension for COVID-19 related health violations, a University spokesperson said in an email.
ADHS reported Thursday an increase of 461 positive cases and 22 deaths, totaling 207,002 positive cases and 5,273 deaths across all 15 counties in the state.
Internal tracking of ADHS zip code data by The State Press shows that positive cases in all ASU campuses zip codes have grown little since Sept. 5.
Reach the reporters at pjhanse1@asu.edu and wmyskow@asu.edu and follow @piperjhansen and @wmyskow on Twitter.
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Wyatt Myskow is the project manager at The State Press, where he oversees enterprise stories for the publication. He also works at The Arizona Republic, where he covers the cities of Peoria and Surprise.
Piper Hansen is the digital editor-in-chief at The State Press, overseeing all digital content. Joining SP in Spring 2020, she has covered student government, housing and COVID-19. She has previously written about state politics for The Arizona Republic and the Arizona Capitol Times and covers social justice for Cronkite News.
