Emerson reported one new positive COVID-19 test result Friday out of 627 total tests, leaving the college’s cumulative positive tests since Aug. 6 at 19. Emerson’s cumulative testing total sits at 21,909.
The new data was reported at 1:28pm.
The 809 tests originally attributed to Sept. 29 in Thursday’s update are now attributed to Sept. 30 in the daily testing table. Thursday’s update showed two sets of tests administered on Sept. 29. Typically, the table shows a day by day breakdown and doesn’t repeat.
Positive tests among community members have been climbing in recent days as the college reported five between Sept. 21 and 27. That total ties the single highest number of positive tests in any week since testing began. With two positives this week, the college has seven over a two week period, the highest number since students returned to campus in late August.
Emerson’s positivity rate rose to .09% Friday after dipping to .08% earlier this week.
Massachusetts reported 753 new positive cases Friday night, up from 708 new cases on Thursday. The number of deaths fell from 32 to 10.
Emerson’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 been removed from the dashboard since testing began in August. Invalid results are typically a result of user error and require re-testing.
Administrators have said the decision to remove hospitalizations was an effort to increase transparency as the college said 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, administrators have said.
