Twenty-six students and 11 employees reported positive test results for COVID-19 from March 24 through March 30, according to an April 1 Today@Brown announcement from Executive Vice President for Planning and Policy Russell Carey ’91 MA’06. The update also reported that three students were in designated isolation housing.
“Every time we've had a break, we've tended to have an uptick” in positive COVID-19 cases, Carey said. “We’re going to be watching really carefully this week and … we’ll continue to monitor really closely in the weeks ahead, but we feel good about where we are,” he added.
The University is also monitoring the spread of Omicron sublineage BA.2 — a new subvariant of Omicron — in the United States and Europe, according to Carey.
Community members who have traveled during the spring recess are expected to take two rapid antigen tests on the first and third day they return to campus, according to the announcement.
The University has not seen any “adverse consequences” following the changes to masking and testing in March, Carey said. These changes included a shift to optional masking for fully-vaccinated community members in most locations on campus and optional testing for fully-vaccinated undergraduate students, The Herald previously reported.
Distribution of antigen tests will continue to take place at Alumnae Hall Monday through Friday, with an additional location at South Street Landing open Tuesday and Thursday, “primarily for staff, faculty and graduate students who are in the Jewelry District,” Carey
said. Rapid antigen tests are also expected to be made available through the end of the semester.
It is “not a bad idea” for community members to take rapid COVID-19 tests even if they did not travel over spring break, Carey said, especially as individuals who have traveled return to campus and residence halls.
The University is “(confident) about the remainder of the semester,” Carey said. “If it's necessary, we will adjust (University guidelines), but I don't anticipate that being the case in April or May.”
Haley Sandlow is a section editor covering science and research as well as admissions and financial aid. She is a junior from Chicago, Illinois, studying English and French.
