PHOENIX (AP) - Arizona State University has reported 161 current coronavirus cases among students and staff across the university’s four campuses. But President Michael Crow said the cases were expected because of broad testing.
A statement issued by Crow Tuesday evening said that the university has a robust testing program that has collected samples from more than 32,000 students and staff since Aug. 1.
The nation’s largest public university opened its fall semester last week and currently has about 100,000 students and employees coming to its four metro Phoenix campuses on staggered days. The 161 current cases include students and employees, including among about 20,000 students living on campus, Crow said.
“I know there has been and will continue to be interest in this number,” Crow wrote. “What I am committing to are regular updates about our COVID management strategy.”
Crow also announced penalties for students who ignore social distancing rules and boosted the university’s mask policy to require face coverings at all times on university property. Previously, masks were required indoors and outside when social distancing wasn’t possible. Now it’s a universal requirement, except while eating.
The penalties for attending a party or otherwise breaking the rules will be harsh.
“Students engaged – whether hosting or attending - in social gatherings on or off campus that do not adhere to public health protocols will be subject to suspension,” Crow announced. “We have a no-visitor policy in our residence halls – this includes students who live in other residence halls. Students who violate the no-visitor policy will be subject to suspension and evicted from university housing.”
The cases at the university come as the state continues to report lower daily cases and hospitalizations for the virus.
The state Department of Health Services reported just 187 new cases Wednesday, the lowest total since May. That brings the state pandemic total to 199,459. New deaths reported Wednesday were 104, raising Arizona’s toll to 4,896.
The 7-day rolling average of daily new cases in Arizona has decreased over the past two weeks, going from 1,176 new cases per day on Aug. 11 to 621.86 new cases per day on Aug. 25.
Arizona was a national hotspot in late June and early July,. But it has since become a relative success story after cities and counties implemented mask measures and Gov. Doug Ducey ordered bars, nightclubs and gyms to close.
Those closure orders are expected to ease significantly in the large population centers of Pima, Pinal and Maricopa counties on Thursday if the state lowers the virus spread measurement to moderate, as expected. Affected businesses in counties with only moderate spread can open with limited occupancy.
In a related development, the Arizona Supreme Court on Tuesday evening declined to accept a case filed by numerous bars seeking to overturn Ducey’s closure orders. The seven-member court decided the bars “did not provide a compelling reason why this matter could not be initiated in a lower court.”
In addition, the order signed by Chief Justice Robert Brutinel said the court lacked a factual record it could review to determine if the governor’s orders were unconstitutional or failed to provide due process, as the bars argued.
The decision eliminates any way for the bars to get a quick response from the courts.
The number of coronavirus infections is thought to be higher because many people have not been tested. Studies suggest people can be infected without feeling sick.
For most people, COVID-19 causes mild or moderate symptoms that clear up in a few weeks. But for some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia and death.
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