Active COVID-19 cases within the ASU community have decreased to 121 as of Oct. 8, according to an update posted online Thursday.
The total number of active cases among students has decreased by 25 since Monday's update when the University reported 140 cases. Total active student cases have decreased to 115, and employee cases have remained at six cases since Monday's update.
There are 77 cases off campus in the metropolitan Phoenix area, 30 in isolation on the Tempe campus and the remaining eight are on the Downtown Phoenix, West and Polytechnic campuses.
ASU has reported 1,963 cumulative cases within its community since Aug. 1. Students make up 1,922 of those cases while employees make up 41.
Cumulative cases have increased by 34 since Monday's reported cumulative total of 1,929 cases.
ASU has collected approximately 79,648 tests from students and employees since Aug. 1. The University has tested 65% of on-campus students and 26% of off-campus students since the start of the semester, according to the update.
The ASU community's percent positivity rate is roughly 2.4%, using the cumulative number of positive results as the numerator and the total number of tests collected as the denominator.
The University reported Thursday 59 more students and two more employees had been rolled off the active case list after meeting guidelines to return to campus.
The University does not require those who test positive to show negative test results before returning to campus, per guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that influence University policy.
Since Aug. 27, the University has administered 13,500 random tests. Random test data is only updated on Mondays.
Per University policy, no email was sent to students about this data because there were no operational changes. Students can still live in residence halls and take classes in person with a number of safety protocols.
The University has announced classes after Thanksgiving break will take place virtually and finals week should take place during the week of Nov. 30 rather than Dec. 7. The Spring 2021 semester will likely have most of the same protocols as the Fall 2020 semester with mask-wearing policies and the opportunity to take classes through ASU Sync.
The Arizona Department of Health Services reported 863 cases and 10 additional deaths Thursday, bringing the state total to 223,401 cases and 5,743 deaths across the state.
Reach the reporter at pjhanse1@asu.edu and follow @piperjhansen on Twitter.
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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.
