WDTN: Wright State keeping number of students on campus low to minimize COVID spread

Excerpt

One week after starting classes, Wright State University is reporting its first cases of COVID-19. Four students and one employee self-reported their positive statuses. Now these are the first cases to be input into the Wright State COVID dashboard.

“We’re keeping track of things and I think our dashboard is our next step in demonstrating that we are on top of what’s going on,” said Douglas Leaman, the interim provost of Wright State University.

Leaman says the dashboard is the school’s effort to remain transparent with students, faculty and staff. The dashboard will display positive cases which will be reported by Student Health Services at Wright State Physicians, public health agencies, and the university’s COVID-19 self reporting portal.

The dashboard includes cases that were confirmed by a county health department and those that are self-reported.

A case is considered positive when the home county health department of an individual who has tested positive for COVID-19 has notified the EHS and is working with the university to commence contact tracing because the individual is believed to have been on campus recently.

“I think the dashboard, in addition to providing information to our students, staff, faculty, and parents, also provides us with a way to make sure that we are responding to any issues that might be arising,” said Leaman.

Leaman also shared that 70 percent of classes are being held online. Of the remaining 30 percent of classes held in-person, 25 percent of those classes have a hybrid option for students. This, combined with the large number of commuter students, is the reason Leaman believes they’ve been able to keep their case number low. He says he’s confident they’ve come up with a student-centric, staff-centric, and faculty-centric approach to the fall.

View the original story at wdtn.com