Emerson reports one new positive, Massachusetts cases fall
Emerson’s testing site is located at a Tufts Medical Center facility on the corner of Harrison Ave. and Kneeland St.
October 21, 2020
Emerson reported one new positive COVID-19 test result Wednesday out of 796 new tests administered on Oct. 20, leaving the college’s cumulative positive tests since Aug. 6 at 25. Emerson’s cumulative testing total sits at 30,676.
The new data was reported at 12:10 p.m.
Massachusetts reported 646 new coronavirus cases Wednesday. The total was down from 821 new cases reported Tuesday. The number of deaths rose from five to 22. New infections continue to rise in the state—Monday’s total was the highest single day total since May 24. Boston’s positivity rate sits at 5.7 percent over the past week.
The college shifted from a manual data reporting process to an automatic one on Oct. 13. The decision came after an investigation by Beacon reporters revealed a string of inaccuracies in the data reported by the college.
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 Muurisepp, who serves as the college’s “COVID lead”.
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.
Correction 10/21: A previous version of this story stated that the state’s seven-day positivity rate was 5.7 percent. That is incorrect. The number represents the positivity rate for the city of Boston.