FIU publishes online tool with limited information on COVID-19 cases on its campuses
The fall semester at Florida International University began Monday, but its community won’t know how many students, faculty and staff have tested positive for COVID-19 until next Monday.
Earlier this week, the Miami-based public university published an online web page with a chart that provides weekly tallies of confirmed cases among students, faculty and staff, on and off campus.
The most recent data is from Aug. 17 to Aug. 23 — 14 reported cases in all. So far, seven students living or learning on campus, three students learning remotely, one faculty/staff working remotely and three faculty/staff working remotely have tested positive.
FIU College of Law started its classes Aug. 17, a week before classes at the main university began Aug. 24.
Additionally, the website reveals that from March 12 to Aug. 16, 215 students and 113 faculty/staff volunteered to FIU that they tested positive.
In an email, FIU spokeswoman Maydel Santana said the online tool doesn’t include subcontractors because they’re following their companies’ protocols, which FIU has reviewed and approved. Nor does it include visitors because not many are coming to campus, she said.
According to the web page, FIU will update it “once a week on Monday or Tuesday if Monday is a holiday.” Santana said that “weekly is a practical way to keep track.”
“The page is meant to provide information to the university community,” she said. “The COVID-19 Response Team works behind the scenes to provide information and support to those who test positive and conduct contact tracing in an effort to stop the spread.”
The information displayed, which has “not been verified by FIU,” is “largely self-reported,” the website says. That means cases are counted only if people chose to disclose they became infected.
The only exception are athletes, “whose results the university has first-hand knowledge of,” Santana said.
The website doesn’t include results from FIU Student Health clinics, FIU Health and the Miami-Dade County testing site at the Fair that FIU helps staff.
How is FIU using the coronavirus cases page?
Santana said that as of Thursday, 17 students had been isolated and 50 had been put in quarantine in single rooms on campus. The school is following up with them regularly and delivering meals daily to those on campus.
The school is not requiring COVID testing, but it’s asking people to answer a list of questions regarding symptoms and other factors on a mobile app before coming to campus each day. If they answer correctly, they get a green light to do so.
Santana said 20 of 3,244 students and two of 1,906 employees who used the app since Monday turned “red,” which means they should stay off campus and get tested.
When asked whether the university would be using this page to consider tightening or loosening restrictions, Santana said, “This is only week one of the fall semester. It’s too early to tell.”
When asked if FIU is trying to calculate the positivity rate within its community, Santana said that’s not possible “because members of the university community can get tested anywhere and we do not know the total number of people getting tested.”
So, what is FIU monitoring?
“We are monitoring conditions on campus with regard to cases and behavior — if everyone follows the risk mitigation protocols we have put into place, i.e., face coverings being worn at all times, physical distancing, frequent hand washing, etc., we reduce our risk.”
This story was originally published August 28, 2020 at 7:30 AM.
