On Friday, Emerson reported five COVID-19 tests for Thursday of the 619 tests administered, setting the daily positivity rate at 0.81 percent.
The college also reported 36 community members in on-campus isolation. One was reported to be in on-campus quarantine.
Those in quarantine may have been exposed to COVID-19 but aren’t experiencing symptoms. Those in isolation are symptomatic, have produced a positive test, or are “reasonably known to be infected,” according to the college. Off-campus students are not counted in the quarantine and isolation numbers.
As of Jan. 3, Emerson has reported 571 positive cases and administered 39,481 tests. The cumulative positivity rate sits at 1.45 percent.
Students are expected to continue to test weekly, per updated COVID-19 guidance put in place Feb. 7.
The state’s downwards tick of COVID-19 cases continued on Friday as Massachusetts reported 900 positive cases for Thursday, with a daily positivity rate of 1.82 percent. The death toll rose to 23.
Hospitalizations went down as reported on Friday as the state reported 345, with 186 of these hospitalizations occurring in those who are fully vaccinated.
The state of Massachusetts also tracks two kinds of COVID-19 positivity rates—one including higher education testing and one without. The seven-day positive rate without higher education sits at 2.45 percent as of March 2. Including higher education, the rate sits at 1.82 percent as of March 3.
Massachusetts reported 6,800 new vaccinations—including boosters—from Thursday to Friday, bringing the state’s total to 13,968,557 doses. Friday’s daily vaccination update reported that 5,293,177 Mass. residents—according to Mass. Department of Health data, approximately 76 percent of the state’s population—are fully vaccinated, meaning that they have received both doses of the Moderna or Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine or one dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
Emerson announced a shift in COVID-19 policy, including the allocation of non-Emerson guests in residence halls starting Feb. 22 and will drop the non-classroom indoor mask mandate starting March 21. The decision came as Emerson saw a campus-wide decline in COVID-19 cases.
Mayor Wu lifted the proof-of-vaccine requirement for all Boston residents citing the drop to previously established thresholds last week.
Emerson shifted from a manual data reporting process to an automatic one on Oct. 13. The decision followed a Beacon investigation that revealed a string of inaccuracies in the data reported by the college.
The college’s dashboard is updated daily Monday through Friday. When it was first launched in August, the college opted for weekly updates before eventually shifting to twice weekly and then daily updates. Tabs for hospitalizations and the number of “invalid” results received by community members have since been removed from the dashboard after testing began in August. Invalid results are typically a result of user error and require re-testing.
Administrators said in August the decision to remove hospitalizations was part of an effort to increase transparency, as the college was concerned it could not accurately track the metric. Invalid results were deemed “not valuable” data by “COVID Lead” Erik Muurisepp.
The dashboard is not updated on weekends because Emerson’s testing site at Tufts Medical Center is closed on Saturdays and Sundays.
