UA System Sees Second-Consecutive Week of Decrease in COVID-19 Cases

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — After seeing almost a 65-percent drop in positive COVID-19 cases on the campus of the University of Alabama last week, the university saw a second-consecutive week of a considerable decrease.

On testing conducted from Sept. 11-17, the UA System COVID-19 Dashboard indicated that only 119 new cases were reported from UA this past week, roughly a 60-percent drop from last week's 294 new cases.

The total cases of the coronavirus is now at 2,461 cases among students. That number reflects the total number of positives since the semester started — including entry testing — and does not reflect the current number of active cases.

Dr. Ricky Friend, dean of UA's College of Community Health Sciences at the University of Alabama, said that he is pleased with the decreasing number of cases.

“I am pleased to report that our number of daily cases, active cases and use of isolation and quarantine space have all dramatically declined,” Friend said in a statement released by the UA System. “This is encouraging and reiterates that, when the health and safety precautions are followed, they work very well to contain and minimize cases across the UA campus and throughout the UA System.”

According to the report prepared by the UA System there are only 221 active cases on UA's campus at this time.

Regarding faculty and staff, UA added 17 additional positive cases this week, a number slightly larger than last week's 13 new cases. The total number of cases for faculty and staff now sits at 227.

A more telling case of how quickly the coronavirus cases have been decreasing is the dorm capacity at UA. Just two weeks ago, UA's isolation space occupancy was at almost 40 percent. With the drop in cases for two-consecutive weeks, only 23 of 593 isolation dorms are currently being used, equated to 3.88-percent capacity.

Regarding the University of Alabama at Birmingham and the University of Alabama in Huntsville, UAB saw 19 cases added to its total while UAH added 19 new cases. UAB and UAH now have total case numbers of 221 and 47, respectively.

You can read the full statement released by the UA System here: