Emory administrators wrote in an Aug. 20 email to faculty and staff that 10 students and four faculty and staff members tested positive for COVID-19 out of 8,527 administered tests, a 0.16% positivity rate. Testing occurred between Aug. 1 and Aug. 18.
The testing results, posted on the EmoryForward website, were not sent in another Aug. 20 email to students, which instead only noted the “incidence of positive tests was significantly lower than state averages.” The positivity rate in Georgia based on a seven-day moving average is 9.5%, according to the Georgia Department of Public Health.
The University stated in its email to students that it will mandate the retesting of all on-campus Atlanta and Oxford students this weekend. Testing will begin for students living on the Atlanta campus beginning on Aug. 22. Oxford Resident Advisors (RA) and students who moved from Clairmont will be tested Aug. 21. All other Oxford students can get retested starting Aug. 24.
Kushal Bafna (22C), an RA on the Atlanta campus, said he’s glad that the University is retesting because he believes it “prevents things from getting out of control.”
“In conversations with other RAs, we expressed concern about students not following the rules,” Bafna said. “Their behavior could prompt Emory to go all online.”
Out of those tested, 6,888 were students and 1,639 were faculty. 475 tested individuals were students, faculty and staff at Oxford College.
Additional testing information for off-campus students will be communicated at a later date, the email reads. The University did not previously indicate that all returning students would be tested again and it is unclear whether more tests will occur in the future.
Positive students were relocated to Emory Conference Center Hotel where they would remain in a two week quarantine.
