Arizona universities reported continuing downward COVID-19 trends on their respective campuses, echoing statewide data also showing improving numbers.
Here’s the latest update from Arizona State University, University of Arizona, Northern Arizona University and Grand Canyon University.
Arizona State University on Monday evening reported 241 known positive COVID-19 cases among its 74,500 students, a decrease from the 317 it reported in its previous update Feb. 4.
Of those 241 students, 224 were off-campus while 14 were in isolation on the university’s Tempe campus. The remaining three students were in isolation on the downtown Phoenix, west or Polytechnic campuses.
Cases among faculty and staff also decreased, from 67 in its last report to 57 as of Monday.
Since Jan. 1, ASU has collected more than 41,962 COVID-19 test results — an increase of more than 3,000 from its previously-reported 38,836. About 84% of students living on campus and 19% of students living off campus have been tested since Jan. 1, the university reported.
As of Monday evening, a total of 1,437 students and 277 faculty and staff had tested positive since Jan. 1. At the time of the university’s previous report, those numbers were at 1,415 and 267, respectively.
With 1,714 cases out of 41,962 tests, ASU has a positivity rate of 4.1% so far this semester. A rate of 5% or less is considered a benchmark showing the spread of the virus is under control.
The University of Arizona reported 88 positive COVID-19 cases during the period from Jan. 31 to Feb. 9. A total of 16,697 tests were administered during that time frame, resulting in a 0.5% positivity rate.
Those numbers were a significant decrease from last week, in which the university reported 182 positive test results and a 1% positivity rate.
During the period between Aug. 4 and Feb. 9, the university had a total of 4,043 positive cases out of 164,624 tests, marking a 2.5% positivity rate.
The university’s seven-day average of new positive test results peaked in September at 181. As of Tuesday, that number was down to 10.
Northern Arizona University said it was managing, as of Feb. 5, a total of 73 confirmed positive cases among students on and off campus, a slight increase from the 70 reported a week prior.
During the week of Jan. 31, the university reported 84 positive cases and 1,967 negative cases. The previous week, the university reported 116 positives and 2,990 negatives.
As of Feb. 5, the university said its testing facility at the Fieldhouse had administered approximately 3,300 tests and that it planned to test 13-14% of its Flagstaff Mountain Campus students, faculty and staff each week.
With 561 positive cases out of 11,828 tests performed, NAU has a positivity rate of 4.7% so far this semester.
GCU said, as of Feb. 7, there were 49 positive COVID-19 cases connected to its community. Of those, 45 are students and four are employees.
Last week, that number was at 61, which included 51 students and 10 employees.
Since Jan. 1, there have been 380 positive cases, of which 324 are students and 56 are employees.
It was not possible to determine a positivity rate for GCU as the university does not release the number of tests performed.
GCU serves as a point of dispensing vaccination site for the public and expects to administer between 500 and 800 vaccine doses per day, according to a university news release.
