Dear Brown Community Members,

Below, please find our weekly update on Brown’s testing program for COVID-19, with additional information and context to complement the data shared via our public dashboard:

https://healthy.brown.edu/testing-tracing/dashboard

One general note with regard to these summary updates: on occasion, asymptomatic tests from the previous week are still processing at the time the update needs to be completed for submission to Today@Brown. When that occurs, we will report adjusted numbers of positive results from the previous week. Last week, 3 additional positive results were received, so the corrected number of asymptomatic positive test results for the week of Jan. 14 to Jan. 21 was 23 — 5 employees, 12 on-campus students and 6 off-campus students. During the same time period University Health Services conducted 26 symptomatic tests of students. Of these, less than 5 were positive for COVID-19. 

At Brown, since launching our routine testing program for the fall term on Aug. 24, we have conducted 195,843 asymptomatic tests to date. A total of 10,218 individuals have been tested in that timeframe, and the total number of positive test results is 331 (up 30 this week from a corrected total of 301 last week) — a prevalence rate of 3.2%.

Here are highlights of the testing program over the last seven days, Thursday, Jan. 22, through Wednesday, Jan. 27:

-- There have been 30 positive asymptomatic test results: 8 from employees, 10 from on-campus students and 12 from off-campus students. As a reminder, our student testing program includes undergraduate, graduate and medical students.

-- Over the past week, the employee asymptomatic positivity rate was 0.34%, and the student asymptomatic positivity rate was 0.24%. The Rhode Island positivity rate during this same time period was 4.43%.

-- The average turnaround time for asymptomatic test results during this period was 27 hours.

-- University Health Services conducted 17 symptomatic tests of students. Of these, none were positive for COVID-19. Exact results for symptomatic students who are tested by UHS are not reported (and do not appear on the public dashboard) to protect the confidentiality of the small numbers of students who are tested. We will report on ranges and any concerns regarding trends in these weekly summaries. 

-- The University does not directly test symptomatic employees, as they receive health care from their individual providers. We do monitor employee absences due to COVID-19 — which can be for a range of reasons, including care of a child or family member or quarantine due to a known exposure — and the number of such absences for the most recent full work week was 9.

-- It is important to note that with regard to all positive cases, we have taken action consistent with our contact tracing protocols, COVID-19 Campus Safety Policy, isolation and quarantine procedures, and other measures outlined in Brown’s Plan for a Healthy and Safe 2020-21.

As a reminder, if you are currently being tested once a week and would like to change to twice a week, you are welcome to do so. Students can email studenttesting@brown.edu to make that change. Faculty and staff can email employeetestinguhr@brown.edu for guidance on how to increase their testing frequency.

Please feel free to contact us with any questions or concerns. For questions or support regarding the testing program, students can contact the student testing support team (401-863-6500, studenttesting@brown.edu), and faculty and staff can contact the employee testing support team (401-368-4828, employeetestinguhr@brown.edu). 

Sincerely,

Russell C. Carey
Executive Vice President, Planning and Policy