BUFFALO, N.Y. — The University at Buffalo is reporting an increase in COVID-19 cases both on and off campus.
On Monday afternoon, UB updated its COVID-19 dashboard to show that it has 60 active on-campus positive cases, which breaks down to 58 students and two employees.
The dashboard states that there are 104 students with COVID-19 who are living off-campus.
According to NYS and Department of Health mandates, UB’s 60 on-campus cases would count toward the 100 metric, not UB’s cumulative total of 113 active cases, which includes students taking courses fully remotely and living off campus. If the 100 metric is met, the university must transition to fully remote learning for two weeks.
Last week, UB informed students, staff and faculty that they will begin random COVID-19 testing on its campuses.
UB released a statement last week stating:
"The university has reviewed the new case data received this afternoon from the Erie County Health Department. Based on zip code, it appears the vast majority of new and active student cases are again in the Heights district.
We don’t currently have evidence that large off-campus parties are a cause of viral spread among off-campus students, but we believe there were smaller scale parties inside student residences in the Heights that likely have contributed to the cases."
SUNY Chancellor Jim Malatras also released a statement regarding the increase in cases at UB:
“I commend President Tripathi for moving quickly in responding to the COVID cases on campus by accelerating the launch of SUNY Upstate Medical’s aggressive pooled surveillance testing program that can frequently test students, staff, and faculty on campus. This action along with the steps they’ve already taken to reduce density on campus and many of their students being fully remote, the campus has continuously acted swiftly to protect their community. While a portion of their total positive COVID cases are on campus and the rest reside off campus with the majority of them fully online, we will remain vigilant and continue to provide every resource available to the University at Buffalo to ensure this virus is contained and the campus community is protected.”
Chancellor Malatras was in Western New York on Sunday, where he announced there will be a SUNY-wide data dashboard, which will track COVID-19 across campuses and at individual campuses.
The dashboard is meant to allow students, their families and the public to see the numbers and understand the current situation at their local SUNY schools.