{"id":33318,"date":"2020-10-01T07:06:40","date_gmt":"2020-10-01T12:06:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/?p=33318"},"modified":"2021-06-11T14:47:44","modified_gmt":"2021-06-11T19:47:44","slug":"oklahomas-college-campuses-continue-to-be-coronavirus-hotspots","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2020\/10\/01\/oklahomas-college-campuses-continue-to-be-coronavirus-hotspots\/","title":{"rendered":"Oklahoma\u2019s college campuses continue to be coronavirus hotspots"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A September surge of COVID-19 cases in Oklahoma is largely a result of the coronavirus\u2019 spread on college campuses.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Oklahoma\u2019s new cases and the 7-day average of them leveled off this summer and held pretty steady. The last major spike was August 1, but after that, cases consistently dropped until mid-September.\u00a0 The state set a new record for the 7-day average on September 21, again surpassing 1,000 cases a day, and cases continued spiking after that.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<div style=\"width: 100%; height: 170px; margin-bottom: 20px; border-radius: 10px; overflow:hidden;\"><iframe style=\"width: 100%; height: 170px;\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\" seamless src=\"https:\/\/player.captivate.fm\/episode\/66c0004b-3df6-426c-b766-e346bdfa3388\"><\/iframe><\/div><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">State leaders are well aware that <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2020\/09\/24\/we-are-still-human-beings-oklahoma-prisoners-officials-adjust-as-covid-19-spreads\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">along with prisons<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, colleges and universities are a major driver for infection rates going up, said state Commissioner of Health Lance Frye.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIt [the recent spike in cases] looks like it\u2019s mostly due to school reopenings. Universities are the main factor,\u201d Frye said. \u201cWe\u2019ve also had some outbreaks in different congregate facilities around the state, the Department of Corrections, et cetera, but the significant number of them are universities.\u201d<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But how big was the cumulative impact? It\u2019s difficult to say. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2020\/09\/10\/a-month-into-the-fall-semester-stateimpact-oklahoma-has-tracked-hundreds-of-covid-19-cases-in-schools\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Like in K-12 schools<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, no state agency is collecting and publishing case data for colleges. There is also inconsistent reporting from colleges and universities, who measure spread in different ways.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">StateImpact surveyed the state\u2019s campuses and found that since classes began at least 2,400 people at those schools have tested positive for the virus. The number of actual people with COVID-19 on campuses is likely higher. Asymptomatic people and those testing positive but not reporting it to the institution can be missed. .<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Some institutions didn\u2019t have the numbers readily on hand and others didn\u2019t immediately respond to requests for information from StateImpact reporters.<\/span><\/p><p><iframe id=\"datawrapper-chart-pcewi\" style=\"width: 0; min-width: 100% !important; border: none;\" title=\"Coronavirus cases on Oklahoma college campuses\" src=\"https:\/\/datawrapper.dwcdn.net\/pcewi\/1\/\" height=\"1225\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" aria-label=\"chart\"><\/iframe><script type=\"text\/javascript\">!function(){\"use strict\";window.addEventListener(\"message\",(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data[\"datawrapper-height\"])for(var e in a.data[\"datawrapper-height\"]){var t=document.getElementById(\"datawrapper-chart-\"+e)||document.querySelector(\"iframe[src*='\"+e+\"']\");t&&(t.style.height=a.data[\"datawrapper-height\"][e]+\"px\")}}))}();\n<\/script><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Higher education institutions are <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.okhighered.org\/state-system\/corona\/docs\/campus-covid19-responses.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">taking\u00a0 steps<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to slow the spread of the virus.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The college experience in fall 2020 universally involves masks, social distancing and more online options for students. But there are <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kosu.org\/post\/students-back-town-university-officials-try-mitigate-covid-19s-spread\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">obvious challenges<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to containing the virus on campus.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The White House Coronavirus Task Force issues weekly reports to states with tailored data and policy recommendations. For several weeks, those reports have contained advice specifically for college and university towns.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This week\u2019s edition encouraged Oklahoma officials to dramatically increase testing at universities to identify cases more quickly and quarantine them sooner. It also advised using positive incentives to encourage testing among students.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The report recommended something the University of Oklahoma has already implemented: <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/coronavirus.health.ok.gov\/sites\/g\/files\/gmc786\/f\/oklahomawhitehousereport09202020.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">wastewater surveillance<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Stool and other samples can contain traces of the virus, which show up in tested samples, often before the carriers get tested themselves.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The reports have consistently recommended messaging strategies that encourage students to take necessary precautions, get tested, and quarantine safely. That guidance included a push to work with campus leaders on getting the word out.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Past reports also pushed for the creation of quarantine facilities and sites that\u00a0 should be used instead of allowing infected students to return home.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mostly, guidance for colleges and universities has hinged on ensuring infected students stay put.\u00a0 Dr. Anthony Fauci of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and Vice President Mike Pence have taken to the airwaves to reiterate that point.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Gov. Kevin Stitt said in a press conference last week that he had just been on the phone with Pence and governors from across the country discussing that recommendation.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIf you test positive, we really need you and want you and implore you to stay on campus,\u201d Stitt said.<\/span><\/p><p><i>This COVID-19\/education reporting is made possible through a grant from the Walton Family Foundation.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A September surge of COVID-19 cases in Oklahoma is largely a result of the coronavirus\u2019 spread on college campuses.Oklahoma\u2019s new cases and the 7-day average of them leveled off this summer and held pretty steady. The last major spike was August 1, but after that, cases consistently dropped until mid-September.\u00a0 The state set a new [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":209,"featured_media":32559,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17,23],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33318"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/209"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33318"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33318\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34115,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33318\/revisions\/34115"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32559"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}