SOUTH KINGSTOWN – Two local state colleges have recently created their own COVID-19 data hubs to inform their campus communities of the current situations as the pandemic continues and as students return to fall academics.
The University of Rhode Island and the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth have developed their own dashboards, showcasing how many tests were conducted on campus to date, the number of confirmed cases and how many students are currently either quarantined or isolated. The data hubs are similar to the ones that Providence College and Roger Williams University recently developed for their own campuses.
To date, URI is the only Rhode Island state college to have such a tracker. The testing is being done by Cambridge, Mass.-based Broad Institute, URI Assistant Vice President for Student Health and Wellness and Director of Health Services Ellen Reynolds told Providence Business News Friday. The portal itself was developed and produced by URI’s marketing and communications digital team, and it’s updated daily Monday through Friday around noon – similar to how the R.I. Department of Health updates its own data hub.
“The university had this feeling that we want to be transparent,” Reynolds said. “We wanted our community to understand what was going on and fell that they had access to this information.”
URI, according to its datahub, saw five positive COVID-19 cases out of 2,589 tests administered between Aug. 27 and Sept. 3, a positive test rate of 0.01%. There have been nine total positive COVID-19 cases identified from Aug. 17 through Sept. 2, URI’s portal states, but there has been no more than one case identified each day.
URI’s portal also outlines cumulative testing and case data, showing testing data since Jan. 22. In that timeframe, 18 positive COVID-19 cases were identified out of 3,243 total tests, a 0.05% positive rate. Reynolds said URI has regularly kept track of case data, even with the campus closing in the spring to in-person learning and limited people on campus through the summer classes.
Ninety URI students are either in isolation or quarantine, occupying 15% of those beds on campus, the portal states. Reynolds said the majority of those students in quarantine are from states with positive rates higher than 5% and are completing the state-required 14-day stay. Some students who have tested positive for COVID-19 opted to quarantine at home.
URI conducts three forms of testing, Reynolds said. The first involves every student moving onto campus getting tested, which Reynolds said is expected to be completed by Labor Day. URI will then shift to “surveillance testing,” where faculty, staff and students will be tested weekly at random. It will also perform “targeted” testing that will test individuals who are in higher-risk areas, and Reynolds said they will be under regular surveillance.
At UMass Dartmouth, it’s so far, so good on its campus. According to its portal, no cases have been identified at UMass Dartmouth out of 1,590 tests conducted as of Sept. 2. The portal also shows data on the new positive cases that have been identified across the commonwealth.
The university said the dashboard is updated weekly and maintained in house.
UMass Dartmouth contracted with Clinical Research Sequencing Platform LLC, a subsidiary of Broad Institute, to perform the testing and results are produced within 24-48 hours, according to the university’s website. Students and faculty will be tested weekly on campus, UMass Dartmouth said, and asymptomatic testing is done by appointment only.
Students who have either tested positive or been close to someone who has will quarantine on campus or at home, with only residential students who can quarantine on campus, the university said.
James Bessette is the PBN special projects editor, and also covers the nonprofit and education sectors. You may reach him at Bessette@PBN.com. You may also follow him on Twitter at @James_Bessette.
