Two people walk through Willamette University on May 15. 2020. (Amanda Loman/Salem Reporter)
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Willamette University has had one student and two employees test positive for Covid since students returned to campus for fall semester. But the university has so far avoided the large outbreaks that have plagued other U.S. colleges and universities that resumed in-person classes.
The university is reporting cases on its website by the date the university was notified a student, faculty member or staff had Covid. One of the cases was reported Aug. 23, and the other two were reported Aug. 28.
In response to questions from Salem Reporter, Willamette spokesman Tim Cobb said the cases were not linked, and all three people tested were asymptomatic.
“Each person immediately isolated themselves and the areas where they had been on campus were cleaned,” Cobb said in an email. He said the Marion County Health Department completed contact tracing for the cases.
Corban University also began in-person classes on its south Salem campus Aug. 24.
As of Sept. 1, the university had two students in isolation with symptoms of Covid who were awaiting test results and three student who had been released from isolation, according to its website. No students currently have a confirmed case of Covid.
Both universities opened for the fall with a hybrid class schedule, where students had the option to live on or off campus and attend classes in-person or remotely.
Many U.S. universities reporting significant outbreaks are large state schools. Willamette has about 2,100 students per year, including about 1,600 undergraduates. Corban has about 1,100 students on the Salem campus.
Many of Oregon’s larger universities, which typically begin school in late September, are offering nearly all online classes this fall. Western Oregon University and the University of Oregon last week announced they were scrapping plans to offer many classes in-person, citing large outbreaks of the virus at other universities that had reopened.
There’s no national system for tracking such cases consistently. As of last week, the New York Times has documented more than 20,000 Covid cases at U.S. colleges and universities since late July, although many universities refused to provide numbers or did not respond to questions.
Oregon Health Authority has not yet determined if or how it will release data on Covid cases at Oregon colleges or schools, spokeswoman Delia Hernandez said.
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Corban, Willamette will open for in-person classes Aug. 24
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Contact reporter Rachel Alexander: [email protected] or 503-575-1241.
