The prevalence of COVID-19 on the UNI campus remained low last week, with only a very slight increase in the campus positivity rate. 

According to data released Friday, March 5 at noon, the 71 tests conducted from March 1-7 through the Student Health Center resulted in six positive cases, for an 8.45% campus positivity rate. This is an increase of less than 2% from last week’s rate of 6.98%.

Furthermore, the positivity rate may decrease slightly today when the Student Health Center updates last week’s data to include any tests conducted on Friday. Since the end-of-week updates only include data collected through Thursday, Friday numbers are added to the weekly total by noon on the following Monday and are therefore not included in the NI’s weekly analysis.

The university also reported seven self-reported cases of COVID-19 from March 1-5, two from employees and five from students. However, these self-reported cases may also be counted in the Student Health Center weekly totals and therefore, the numbers cannot be combined for a grand total.

In other local COVID-19 related news last week, the city of Cedar Falls renewed its mask mandate through April 7. Waterloo’s mask mandate continues to remain in effect indefinitely, and UNI continues to require masks on campus as well.