Campus coronavirus roundup, 2.8.21: Sharp decreases at several schools

Coronavirus case numbers continued to drop — and sharply — on all four of the state’s four-year campuses last week.

Lewis-Clark State College and the College of Western Idaho reported no active cases.

On the Brigham Young University-Idaho campus, however, it was a different story. Case numbers have gone up rapidly, as neighboring Madison County reports one of the sharpest increases in the state.

Here is a mixed campus coronavirus case roundup for the week.

Increasing sharply (more than 100 percent)

BYU-Idaho. BYU-Idaho reported 67 active cases Sunday, all involving students. On Jan. 24, BYU-Idaho reported a total of 26 active cases.

The College of Idaho. Twelve new positive tests reported last week, compared to four cases the previous week. Three people are in campus isolation housing, while eight people are isolating off-campus. For the school year, C of I has reported 111 positive test results.

Increasing

North Idaho College. Five students self-reported a positive test last week, compared to a total of three self-reported cases the previous week. Since July, 280 students and employees have reported a positive test.

College of Eastern Idaho. Three cases reported last week, two involving students and a third involving an employee. CEI reported two cases the previous week, and has reported a total of 161 cases since August.

Decreasing

Boise State University. Decreases across all key metrics, including another sharp decline in new cases.

Boise State reported 18 campus cases for the seven-day period ending Thursday, down from 45 cases the previous week. Ten cases involved students who live off campus, seven involved students living on campus, and one case involved staff.

In all, 1.5 percent of campus coronavirus tests came back positive, down from 2.6 percent the previous week.

Eight of Boise State’s 153 isolation beds were occupied, down from 12 the previous week.

Idaho State University. Cases dropped sharply for the second straight week: ISU reported 18 cases for a seven-day period ending Tuesday, down from 33 cases the previous week. Twelve of the new cases involve students; 14 occurred on the Pocatello campus. ISU was investigating two case clusters — one involving two cases in an off-campus household, the second involving two cases in athletics.

University of Idaho. Another weekly dropoff in cases: The U of I reported eight positive test results for the week ending Jan. 22, down from 14 cases the previous week.

The university’s positive test rate fell to 1.4 percent, down from 1.8 percent.

Last week, the U of I shut off online system access for students who had refused testing. “These students have been notified repeatedly and received instructions from the registrar on how to keep access from being turned off,” President C. Scott Green and Provost Torrey Lawrence said in a memo last week.

Lewis-Clark State College. No active cases reported Friday. Lewis-Clark had five active cases the previous week.

College of Western Idaho. No new cases reported this week; CWI reported three cases the previous week. CWI reported 11 cases for the month of January.

Flat

Northwest Nazarene University. NNU again reported just one case last week, involving a student living off campus. NNU is tracking three active cases. Twenty-seven people were under stay-at-home directives Thursday.

Other

College of Southern Idaho. No report.

Check Kevin Richert’s blog each Friday for a weekly roundup of statewide coronavirus trends.

 

Kevin Richert

Kevin Richert

Senior reporter and blogger Kevin Richert specializes in education politics and education policy. He has more than 35 years of experience in Idaho journalism. He is a frequent guest on "Idaho Reports" on Idaho Public Television and "Idaho Matters" on Boise State Public Radio. He can be reached at [email protected]

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