Coastal Carolina announces more than 60 new coronavirus cases in the past week
Coastal Carolina University announced 61 new coronavirus cases over the past week from Sept. 3-9, bringing the school’s total since testing began on June 8 to 183.
The increase is the largest weekly jump the Conway university has seen since campus reopened in mid-August.
A total of 163 of the cumulative cases have been students, including 57 in the past week, and 19 have been employees.
The university announced 56 positive cases last week after just three the previous week.
Coastal is isolating students who test positive in designated housing facilities, and those who have been identified as being in close contact with a positive case through contact tracing are being required to quarantine.
The school reports 80 students are in isolation and 162 are in quarantine as of Wednesday, which combined account for nearly 7 percent of the school’s residential population.
CCU is leasing off-campus housing properties in four-month increments to isolate students who have tested positive, and the number of available beds is elastic, according to Martha Hunn, CCU Associate Vice President and Chief Communication Officer.
“Additional beds will be acquired if/when they are needed,” Hunn said.
The university has an extensive safety plan to address COVID-19 and is releasing the number of weekly positive tests on Fridays.
The fall semester began on Aug. 19 with online classes and in-person classes on campus began Tuesday, though students have the option of either form of learning until the Thanksgiving break.
More than 4,000 students were expected to move into university housing between Aug. 12 and Sept. 4, with the bulk of them moving in between Aug. 12-16 and the second wave arriving on Sept. 3-4.
Athletes are being regularly tested, and CCU football coach Jamey Chadwell said Wednesday that four players who were expected to play Saturday night at Kansas are going to miss the game because they are in quarantine. That was prior to scheduled testing on both Wednesday and Friday.
As of Thursday, Horry County has had 9,550 positive tests since testing began in March and the county has seen 181 deaths attributed to the coronavirus, according to the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control.
This story was originally published September 11, 2020 at 9:08 AM.
