The University of Arizona is reporting elevated COVID-19 cases reflective of a state-wide uptick after large gatherings occurred over the Halloween weekend, UA President Robert C. Robbins said in a news conference Monday, Nov. 2.
From Oct. 23 through Nov. 1, UA found 79 positive coronavirus cases after administering 7,122 tests for a positivity rate of 1.1%, an increase from the 0.6% rate the university reported the previous 10-day period.
The university found seven gatherings with over 100 attendees throughout the past week. UA’s CART team, a collaboration with the UA and Tucson police departments that looks for noncompliance to COVID-19 precautions, responded to 18 incidents since Oct. 26.
“This is not just a nuisance. These people who are acting indiscriminately are placing all of us at risk,” Reentry Task Force Director Richard Carmona said.
The university allowed classes of 50 or fewer students to return to campus last week as it continues phase 2 of its reopening plan. According to Carmona, there have been no issues with classroom transmissibility.
Robbins says the university will continue in this phase until fall break on Nov. 26 if public health metrics tracking the spread of coronavirus allow. However, some of these metrics are beginning to cause concern.
“We’re concerned about the deterioration of conditions nationally,” Robbins said. “While Pima County is faring better than some other areas, we do see some signs of concern here as well.”
Carmona said Pima County’s current R0, pronounced “R naught,” which indicates how contagious a virus is, has increased to 1.71 from 0.99 last week. The transmissibility rate for the zip code surrounding the university has increased from 0.68 to 1.25 this week.
Statewide, coronavirus is spreading as fast as it did in June. Carmona went over data showing over the past 14 days, coronavirus cases in the state increased by 67%, while deaths increased by 57%.
As COVID-19 cases rise, the university is continuing its preparation for fall break, requiring all main campus students to complete a survey with their traveling plans. After completing the survey, students will be directed to a website to register for the university’s appointment-only “testing blitz” from Nov. 9-15.
If students travel outside the Tucson area over fall break, the university is asking them to complete the semester outside the area or remotely online. Those who don’t travel can complete the semester from their student residences.
This article appears in Oct 29 – Nov 4, 2020.
People continue to demonstrate that you cannot manage behavior with practices, policies and rules that require compliance simply because it is the right thing to do.
There is a reason they call it “herd immunity” — large groups act like a herd and they are immune to intelligence and reasoning.
Seriously, this idea that we will be saved by just allowing ourselves to be exposed to COVID-19 and that the resultant deaths will make the “herd” stronger fails to take two very big FACTS into account: 1) Herd immunity has not been proven with COVID-19, and 2) A LOT OF PEOPLE WILL DIE! Not just old and sick and young and weak, but people across the spectrum.
So, party animals, it is time for you to stop partying like it is 1999. Show everyone how smart you really are and come up with some 21st Century solution that doesn’t require you to put yourselves and the rest of humanity in peril to get your freak on and enjoy the rest of your long and hopefully healthy lives without collateral damage.
That’s right. Just hold still and be controlled while they collapse the world economy. Has anybody read the Davos Report and what their plans are?
Another factor that essentially cancels any potential benefit of herd immunity in the present case is that research is emerging that “immunity” from COVID-19 is not permanent and in fact doesn’t last long at all, like maybe only three months.
So even if you get it, you are nowhere near “immune”. You may have a resistance to it for a while after you have it, but you could catch it again just three months later, which raises the specter of a never-ending cycle of disease for the “herd”.
This virus is very challenging, to say the least, but there is one simple, civic-minded solution that everyone can participate in–wear a mask and social distance as much as you can (given your personal employment circumstances and other considerations).
In other words, show a little respect for your fellow human beings, even if you’re too stoopid or irresponsible to care about your own health.