There are now 983 total positive COVID-19 cases within the ASU community as of Sept. 2, according to an update released late Thursday.
There are 957 positive cases among students and 26 among faculty, the update said. Cases increased by 180 within the community since the last update on Aug. 31. Employee cases dropped by two from the previous update.
There are 369 positive cases on the Tempe campus. There are 32 positive cases between the Downtown Phoenix and West campuses and the Polytechnic campus still has zero cases. Off-campus cases in the metropolitan Phoenix area represent 556 of the total student cases.
ASU has collected 43,425 tests, yielding a percent positivity rate of roughly 2.26% among the University population.
The University is still not reporting the percent positivity rate among the University population, which divides the total number of positives by the number of tests conducted. The University is calculating a different percentage using the number of students or faculty as the denominator.
Updates will now come every Monday and Thursday evening and "e-mail notifications will cease unless there are significant operational shifts," according to an email sent Thursday.
The University is still in learning mode two and housing mode three. Students will continue taking classes in a hybrid setting with ASU Sync and they are still allowed to live in residence halls with increased safety precautions.
Housing on campus accounts for 12,157 total students. The University is working to "de-densify" living configurations that include communal bathrooms, kitchens and living spaces. No external visitors will be allowed in and only one guest is allowed per room.
During a student forum featuring University administrators, Vice President of Student Services Joanne Vogel explained residence halls would have one place for entry and exit to stop visitors from going in and out of buildings.
The Arizona Department of Health Services reported 1,091 new positive cases in the state along with 65 new deaths reported Thursday. The Arizona Republic reported that the new total cases Thursday was the most reported in the past three weeks.
Positive cases rose by 210 Thursday in the 85281 zip code where the Tempe campus is located, internal tracking of ADHS zip code data done by The State Press showed. Cases in the other zip codes tracked by The State Press — 85004, 85306, 85212 and 85282 — representing each campus in Maricopa county and an additional Tempe zip code, rose by 20.
According to an article from The Daily Wildcat, UA reported 104 new cases Thursday, a single-day high.
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.
