Murray State reports low COVID-19 case count

Daniella Tebib

News Editor

dtebib@murraystate.edu

Despite last week’s 29 newly reported cases, Murray State has one of the lowest overall total number of COVID-19 cases among the eight Kentucky public institutions of higher education.

Murray State has reported 72 positive cases on campus since Aug.1. The only university that had fewer cases was Morehead State University, which has reported 58 cases.

Since students have returned to campuses, 31 private and public colleges and universities in Kentucky have reported positive COVID-19 cases as of Sept. 9. The full list, which was compiled by the Kentucky Department for Public Health, can be found here.

According to the Kentucky Department for Public Health, as of press time, there have been 1,786 positive student cases and 73 positive faculty/staff cases in Kentucky colleges and universities.

“I hope every school wants to give regular daily updates so any parents who made decisions about remote learning or in-person learning can make the best informed decisions or changed decisions,” Gov. Andy Beshear said. “I think that’s part of our duty to those parents.”

Postsecondary institutions are required to report the number of positive cases on campus every week day to their local health department. Local health departments then pass the information along to the Kentucky Department for Public Health where the numbers are verified.

However, numbers reported from the Kentucky Department for Public Health may vary from local health departments and other reported numbers because of the verification process.

The News analyzed the data that each public university has posted on its COVID-19 section of the institution’s website.

University of Kentucky has detailed sections on its COVID-19 Data Dashboard describing what each section of their data includes. The University has a total of 789 positive student cases out of the 28,157 tests conducted since July 20. UK’s data was last updated on Sept. 5.

One policy UK has implemented to help reduce the spread of COVID-19 is requiring all students and employees to complete a daily COVID-19 screening if they are going to campus.

According to the University’s COVID-19 site, 68 percent of students and 40 percent of employees are completing the daily screenings. The screening gauges whether or not individuals have experienced COVID-19 symptoms or have been exposed to someone who has tested positive.

While UK has reported 789 positive cases, the Kentucky Department of Health reports 1,221 for the institution. The discrepancy comes as UK only reports cases collected at the University.

Western Kentucky University has recorded positive COVID-19 cases within the WKU community since July 1. As of Sept. 8, they have reported 491 cases on their Reported Cases page out of 2,590 conducted tests. Cases reported by the Barren River District Health Department and individuals who self report are included in the data.

University of Louisville has reported a total of 297 positive COVID-19 cases on campus, out of the 20,014 tests that have been performed on campus since Aug. 10, according to the University’s COVID-19 Testing Dashboard. Based on the number of positive cases compared to the total number of tests performed, University of Louisville has a 1.48 percent positivity rate. However, the results displayed on its COVID-19 Testing Dashboard only include testing performed at Campus Health and Bluewater Diagnostic Lab testing sites. UofL Health and off- campus testing are not included.

Eastern Kentucky University has several graphs detailing case information including whether or not the cases included residential or non-residential students on its COVID-19 Data Dashboard. EKU has had a total of 88 cases since Aug. 1.

Kentucky State University’s data shows it’s had a total of 86 cases since March on its COVID-19 reporting website. Information regarding positive COVID-19 results of student and employee cases, located on and off KSU’s campus, are provided by individuals or public health agencies appropriate to KSU campus officials. KSU’s data was last updated on Sept. 2.

Of the 72 total cases reported on Murray State’s campus since Aug. 1, seven have been faculty or staff members and 65 were students. The positivity rate cannot be calculated because the total number of tests that have been performed is unknown. Students can be tested at Health Services on campus, the Murray-Calloway County Hospital or a private provider’s office. The University’s COVID-19 Reporting site can be found at https://murraystate.edu/racerrestart/reporting.

Morehead State University has reported cases related to the University since July which includes a total of 58 cases. MSU shows individual case counts for employees, on-campus students and off campus students on its COVID-19 Dashboard. MSU’s data was last updated on Sept. 8.

Unlike other universities in the state, Northern Kentucky University only provides COVID-19 case data on their COVID-19 Regional Statistics page rather than cases specific to the campus.

Beshear discussed his concerns with the rising numbers of positive COVID-19 cases on college campuses after The News submitted a question to the governor for his daily press briefing on Sept. 9.

“I’m concerned because at some point, we’re going to have to prove we can or can’t do this,” Beshear said. “That’s separate from the question of what to do with an outbreak right now versus at this moment without a vaccine, can we reasonably do this without knowing that there’s going to be outbreaks? It is possible and are we being reasonable as decision makers to believe this many college kids can come together and not do things that will spread the virus?”

Beshear also said the threshold for sending students home and returning to a completely virtual college experience should not be based on deaths or positive patients in need of ventilators. 

“For a university, I don’t think it can be based on deaths,” Beshear said. “It certainly shouldn’t. We don’t want to lose any students or faculty. It shouldn’t be based on how many people we have an ICU or on a ventilator, we don’t want any students or faculty on that. It’s got to be based on something else where we say we have just hit the level where it’s not working and we don’t want to to continue seeing increased caseloads.”

Beshear said he will discuss the new colleges and universities reporting dashboard and the information that the institutions will be posting on Monday, Sept. 14 during his daily press briefing.

“When we create a dashboard, we try to put the most important information on it,” Beshear said. “I would encourage, if it’s the student body or the faculty or others who would like to see more information, whether it is on the dashboard or otherwise available, I think that’s an important conversation to have. And especially those…that are on campus, if there’s information that you believe would keep you safer, I hope the administration will listen.”

The News will continue to follow and report on COVID-19 case numbers on Murray State’s campus and other universities across Kentucky.

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