KALAMAZOO, MI — Western Michigan University’s Sindecuse Health Center reported 69 new coronavirus cases Tuesday, Sept. 22, bringing the school’s total number of cases to 304 since students began to return to campus on Aug. 10, according to the university’s COVID-19 Dashboard.
The 69 new cases were recorded Thursday, Sept. 17 and Friday, Sept. 18, as the university has been updating its COVID-19 Dashboard on Tuesday and Friday evenings each week.
Last week, Sindecuse posted 72 new cases which brought the amount of cases since students returned to 235.
The percentage of tested individuals with positive test results has remained steady since students this month. A seven-day average of the rate of individuals testing positive, which hovered below 10% during the month of August, has remained above or around 20% for much of September.
In recent weeks, WMU has reiterated it has no plans to enact a campus-wide shutdown or send students home regardless of a spike in positive cases, a decision the university says takes into account the concerns of students whose classes require them to be in-person to remain on track to graduate.
Should there be a need to make changes to what is open on WMU’s campus, “targeted areas” will be shut down rather than the entire university, spokesperson Paula Davis told MLive last week. Davis pointed to the shutdown of athletics activities on Sept. 10 as an example of this. It remains unclear when athletic activities will resume.
On Monday, Sept. 21, WMU President Edward Montgomery sent an email to students and faculty an update on where the university stands in its Safe Return Plan, saying the institution is currently in Phase 2 of its plan.
“Community spread is a factor that we continue to watch carefully,” Montgomery said. “We assess our data at regularly scheduled meetings between WMU’s COVID-19 Response Coordination team leaders and our county health officials. At its most recent meeting, the group concluded that we are seeing evidence of increasing disease transmission among WMU students."
Montgomery told WMU community members that the increase in cases were expected as a result of the back-to-campus return as well as Labor Day weekend.
“The majority of the positive cases seem to be stemming from off-campus living situations and off-campus social gatherings,” Montgomery said in the email.
WMU has encouraged students living on-campus to seek testing but students are not required to do so. Currently, students are required to take a daily online survey, which grants them access to enter buildings on campus.
At Grand Valley State University, students will now be incentivized with $200 in tuition funds to take a coronavirus health screening test every day for the remainder of the fall semester, GVSU said in a Facebook post.
The push to complete health screenings comes after GVSU has reported more than 600 positive cases since students returned to campus.
GVSU students were recently ordered to stay in their on- or off-campus residence for two weeks because of a surge in the number of coronavirus cases.
On Monday, Mona Shores High School announced in an email to parents that two students tested positive for coronavirus, and are believed to have been exposed during a weekend visit to Western Michigan University.
Health officials believe both students were exposed to the virus after visiting Western Michigan University the weekend of Sept. 12, the school said.
WMU students and community members seeking testing at Sindecuse can call the health center to set up an appointment at 269-387-3287, or set up an appointment through the Sindecuse online patient portal.
COVID-19 PREVENTION TIPS:
In addition to washing hands regularly and not touching your face, officials recommend practicing social distancing, assuming anyone may be carrying the virus.
Health officials say you should be staying at least 6 feet away from others and working from home, if possible.
Use disinfecting wipes or disinfecting spray cleaners on frequently-touched surfaces in your home (door handles, faucets, countertops) and carry hand sanitizer with you when you go into places like stores.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has also issued executive orders requiring people to wear face coverings over their mouth and nosewhile in public indoor and crowded outdoor spaces. See an explanation of what that means here.
Additional information is available at Michigan.gov/Coronavirus and CDC.gov/Coronavirus.
For more data on COVID-19 in Michigan, visit https://www.mlive.com/coronavirus/data/.
Also on MLive:
WMU reports 72 new coronavirus cases; university now at 235 infections
Western Michigan University freshmen ‘rolling with the punches’ as they move in during a pandemic
7 things to know about Western Michigan University’s back-to-campus plans
Western Michigan students protest, share concerns with university’s reopening plan