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

On-campus flu shot clinics for employees and students are ongoing. If you haven’t already registered for your flu shot, please do so at the at the links below:

Faculty/staff flu clinic information:

http://brown.edu/go/flu-clinic-2021

Student flu clinic information:

https://www.brown.edu/campus-life/health/services/

The percentage of total employees (faculty and staff) who have uploaded their COVID-19 vaccination cards is 95.2%. The percentage of the total student population is 99.2%.

At Brown, since launching our routine testing program in August 2020, we have conducted 559,856 asymptomatic tests to date. A total of 18,025 individuals have been tested in that timeframe, and the total number of positive test results is 808 (up 7 this week from a total of 801 last week) -- a prevalence rate of 4.5%.

Here are highlights of the testing program over the last seven days, Thursday, Oct. 14, through Wednesday, Oct. 20:

-- There have been 7 positive asymptomatic test results: 1 from employees and 6 from students. As a reminder, our student testing program includes undergraduate, graduate and medical students.

-- Over the past week, the employee asymptomatic positivity rate was 0.08%, and the student asymptomatic positivity rate was 0.09%. The Rhode Island positivity rate during this same time period was 2.18%.

-- The average turnaround time for asymptomatic test results during this period was approximately 31 hours.

-- University Health Services (UHS) conducted 39 symptomatic tests of students. Of these, between 0 and 5 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 2.

-- 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.

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 (studenttesting@brown.edu), and faculty and staff can contact the employee testing support team (employeetestinguhr@brown.edu). 

Sincerely,

Russell C. Carey
Executive Vice President, Planning and Policy