New COVID Cases at UA Stay Low Amid National Spike

Even as new COVID-19 cases spikes to near-record highs across the United States this week, infections among the student body at the University of Alabama remained low, according to data released Friday afternoon on the UA System COVID-19 Dashboard.

New data shows 68 students on the Tuscaloosa campus tested positive for the virus between October 16th and 22nd. It's the highest number of new cases since mid-September, but still significantly down from the first five weeks of in-class instruction.

16 of 518 isolation dorms reserved for COVID-positive students were occupied as of the data's release, just over 3 percent of the total space available.

The System also said they administered 1,124 tests this week, the highest number since before Labor Day weekend. This is the first time administrators have revealed the number of tests given during a week.

At the University of Alabama at Birmingham, 63 students tested positive, continuing a trend of relatively high cases on that campus.

At the University of Alabama in Hunstville, 11 students contracted the virus last week.

Across the three campuses, 3,201 students have tested positive for COVID-19 this academic year.

“This week’s dashboard reflects the hard work and commitment of our 74,000 students as well as our faculty and staff to follow the health and safety guidelines that were developed specifically to help them stay well," said Finis St. John, the Chancellor of the UA System. "I want to thank everyone who is working so hard to safeguard our campus communities.”