The weekly count of COVID-19 cases continues to rise on Auburn University’s campus.
Prior to classess starting on Aug. 17, Auburn reported 41 new student cases, 202 during the first week of classes and 490 two weeks ago, Auburn reported 577 positive student cases last week prior to Labor Day weekend.
Eleven employees (which includes faculty and staff) also tested positive, as did 10 students at the Auburn University Regional Airport. In total, the school reported 598 new cases.
Auburn also changed how they are calculating that number was calculated. This week, the number of positive cases were only self-reported positives from any testing site, as well as the university’s GuideSafe sentinel testing program. Prieviously, it counted every student and employee positive result from tests conducted at the Auburn University Medical Clinic, as well as any self-reported positives from other testing sites.
The sentinel program, which launched a pilot program last Wednesday, Sept. 2, will fully launch Tuesday. The goal of the program is to test random members of the Auburn University campus (students and employees) to monitor the prevalence of COVID-19 within the community.