While Texas colleges like the University of Texas and Texas State University developed COVID-19 dashboards that were launched in July, Texas A&M has yet to launch a similar system.
According to KBTX, weekly updates on cases of COVID-19 self-reported by students, staff and faculty members will be available through an online portal that will be released soon.
Texas A&M Associate Vice President of Marketing and Communications Kelly Brown said since February, 372 A&M employees and students have used the self-report portal to report a positive case of COVID-19; 122 employees and 250 students. Brown said she is unsure how many of the cases are considered active and there have been no reports of students, faculty or staff dying of COVID-19.
In the week leading up to the first day of class, Aug. 11-18, Brown said three employees and 27 students have self-reported testing positive for the virus.
Vice President of Student Affairs Daniel Pugh said there are currently 16 students being quarantined on campus who are waiting on COVID-19 test results, and 248 isolation beds are available. Additionally, A&M has initiated the quarantine of all members of the Kappa Kappa Gamma and Delta Delta Delta sororities after possible exposure to COVID-19 at in-person Bid Day celebrations.
In the article, Fierke said there is a plan if the number of COVID-19 cases continue to increase.
“We will not go all-or-nothing this semester. The first classes we would move to remote-only are the very large classes in very large spaces,” Fierke said. “Then, if the infection continues, we’ll make classes smaller and smaller. Because we’re doing every class face-to-face and remote already, we can easily switch to remote—and back again—if things look better later in the semester.”
Those who test positive will be included in the daily Brazos County Health District (BCHD) positive case count according to the BCHD via Twitter. These numbers will not be divided by institution or any other classification.
Students, faculty and staff who test positive for the coronavirus should complete A&M’s COVID-19 self-report form and visit tamu.edu/coronavirus for additional guidance.