FAYETTEVILLE — Certain University of Arkansas, Fayetteville groups with members who have tested positive for covid-19 should “immediately suspend all in-person activities” and get tested even if they have no current symptoms, a university spokesman said Monday.
UA spokesman Mark Rushing did not name specific groups. State Health Department Secretary Jose Romero on Friday said there were an “alarming” number of covid-19 cases at UA, and the university on Monday reported 151 new positive covid-19 cases identified over the three-day period from Friday through Sunday.
Notifications to suspend in-person activities are currently taking place “in cases where individuals who are connected in some way through an organization, living or working arrangement, or other group activity receive positive test results,” Rushing said in an email.
The state Department of Health is conducting drive-through testing at UA for students Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
“The university is also encouraging all members of groups like this to be tested even if they are asymptomatic in order to give the groups and the university a better idea of how many individuals have been exposed and who needs to quarantine or isolate,” Rushing said.
Student IDs are required for the drive-through testing. Students, faculty and staff can visit the campus health clinic to be tested by appointment, according to UA.
The state testing clinics were scheduled in part to assist with the effort to test those in groups where someone has tested positive for covid-19, Rushing said.
A total of 52 positive covid-19 test results were reported over Wednesday and Thursday of last week. Since Aug. 10, 249 positive cases have been identified either through on-campus testing, state Department of Health testing or self-reported results.
The university is counting in its case totals “individuals who may have been on campus this semester,” according to its website.
UA’s fall semester classes began Aug. 24, and the uptick in cases has been reported “mostly within our student population,” Dr. Huda Sharaf, medical director for UA’s campus health center, said in a statement Monday.