COVID-19 clusters confirmed at UNC Charlotte, university officials say
UNC Charlotte has confirmed two coronavirus clusters in recent days — one on campus and the other in private residences away from the school, university officials said.
The clusters included 11 students in off-campus private residences and five students in two on-campus residence halls, officials posted on the UNC Charlotte Coronavirus Campus Updates page.
The university cited student privacy in declining to name the locations.
State health officials define a cluster as at least five persons with illness onset or initial positive results within two weeks.
The five COVID-19-positive students who live on campus are in isolation and getting “proper medical care,” according to a post by the university on Thursday.
Students in the residence halls who have been in close contact with those who tested positive will be quarantined, school officials said.
The UNC Charlotte contact tracing team is notifying other close contacts also to quarantine.
Officials detected the cluster when students in the dorms were tested after the SARS-CoV-2 virus was found in wastewater sampling in the residence halls, officials said. The routine testing of wastewater occurred over the last week.
Students in the off-campus cluster are isolating away from the university and also are getting “appropriate medical care,” according to a post by the university on Friday.
Campus officials said they are working with the Mecklenburg County Health Department to tell all close contacts of the students to quarantine and be tested for the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.
College students across the state should get tested for the disease before traveling home for Thanksgiving, Dr. Mandy Cohen, secretary of the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services, said at a news conference on Thursday.
She cited an alarming rise in cases especially in rural parts of the state.
Since July 1, 729 UNC Charlotte students and 80 employees have tested positive for COVID-19, according to the UNC Charlotte COVID-19 Dashboard.
Forty-two cases among on-campus students are active, according to the dashboard. Fifteen of the students are in isolation, the dashboard shows.
Having lost $4.5 million in revenue due to the pandemic, the school’s athletics department is furloughing many of its employees, The Charlotte Observer reported on Nov. 10.
The same week, the school canceled its football game against at Middle Tennessee due to a cluster of seven COVID-19 cases involving players or football staff, the Observer reported. That was the fourth time a UNC Charlotte football game had to be postponed or canceled this season.