HOUGHTON, Mich. (WLUC) - Michigan Tech University has seen an uptick in COVID cases as on-campus testing continues.
The recent uptick in Houghton county COVID cases has been traced back to Michigan Tech, as they continue rigorous testing of students and staff. According to the MTU website, 63 COVID cases have been found on-campus in the last 14 days.
Health department found 31 new cases between Sunday and Monday. This has been attributed to increased testing on MTU campus.
The cases seem to be mostly in the fraternities and sororities in the area, rather than on-campus, according to western up health department officer Kate Beer.
While spread to the rest of the community is a concern, beer, who is helping Michigan Tech with COVID tests, believes that it’s not an immediate possibility.
“The students are, for the most part, cooperating and following through on quarantine and isolation,” she said, “so their contact with the community should be limited.”
The health department is working closely with tech to make sure these cases remain contained.
The university has been at the forefront of COVID preparation and prevention, using all available resources to ensure their students' safety.
Michigan Tech University administration provided a statement saying: “The success of the plan relies on our surveillance testing to identify these asymptomatic cases which would otherwise go undetected.”
“They have good controls in place,” said Beer, “both environmentally and of a personal nature as far as symptom trackers for their students. They’re doing a really good job with that.”
The university says testing is a top priority, saying: “Concentrated testing in a few potential ‘hot spots’ was conducted to isolate potential positive clusters. This testing focused on individuals in off-campus congregate living and those spending time with specific groups of individuals.”
“We’re monitoring the situation,” assured Beer. “We’re working closely with Tech. We’re in constant communication with them; just to make sure that it doesn’t spiral here into a total outbreak.”
At this point, the Western U.P. Health Department says it’s up to those infected to keep themselves isolated for others' safety.
The full statement Michigan Tech University administration on testing is as follows:
Our goal from the beginning has been and remains to keep our students and staff safe during this pandemic. A key component of that is our aggressive testing program. The success of the plan relies on our surveillance testing to identify these asymptomatic cases which would otherwise go undetected.
Last week’s increase reflects the efforts of our testing strategy. Concentrated testing in a few potential “hot spots” was conducted to isolate potential positive clusters. This testing focused on individuals in off-campus congregate living and those spending time with specific groups of individuals.
Surveillance testing will continue this week, and should the growth rate of detected cases increase rapidly, further action may be warranted.
There are a number of factors that we continue to monitor, including the campus detection rate, Houghton County’s rate, and our capacity for isolation and quarantine. We continue to work closely with the Western Upper Peninsula Health Department.
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Continued testing at MTU raises county COVID numbers - WLUC
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