266 active cases of COVID-19 at USU, no closure plan in place

As of Sept. 21, there are 266 active cases of Coronavirus in the Utah State University community.

According to USU’s public information officer, Emilie Wheeler, USU does not currently have a plan for shutting down, because there is “so much grey area.”

The numbers recorded are from active cases at the USU Logan Main campus, as well as its statewide affiliates. In total, USU has eight statewide campuses with 23 statewide education centers.

Today, USU added seven new cases from students who live on-campus, and eight cases from students who live off-campus.

Off-campus cases could include students from anywhere in the state, as well as students who live out-of-state and choose to self-report using USU’s Covid-19 questionnaire.

According to Wheeler, the way USU operates is more complicated than just hitting a certain number of positive cases and initiating a certain “closure” plan.

“I don’t see the university ever completely shutting down,” Wheeler said. “But that’s my personal prediction based on how I’ve seen things go up to now.”

She also said the university has seen very good compliance with face masks and social distancing.

Wheeler said the university may consider additional containment measures in the future. These measures include: closing the ARC for a day or so for additional cleaning, canceling class periods for awhile so case investigators can do their work and shifting learning to remote for a short/temporary period of time.

She added that, from the meetings she has attended, the university is currently “not worried about it.” In other words, the cases are spread out to USU campuses across the state, it is not just affecting Cache Valley. As a result, the university is not on red alert yet.

There are currently 53 active on-campus cases, 205 off-campus cases and eight cases from staff members being reported.

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