TEMPE, AZ — Arizona State University released new coronavirus data Wednesday evening, which included cumulative totals not previously released.
The new data shows that since August 1, 2020, 1,305 students have tested positive for the coronavirus, while 610 have been cleared for release, meaning their cases are no longer considered active or current.
Arizona State University President Michael Crow addressed the public about coronavirus at the university Wednesday morning to discuss testing, recent data trends, housing and disclosure of data.
He was joined by Neal Woodbury, Interim Executive Vice President and Chief Science and Technology Officer for ASU's Knowledge Enterprise Josh LaBaer, executive director for ASU’s Biodesign Institute.
Watch the Zoom press conference in the player below:
The university had previously faced criticism because ASU was only releasing the number of current COVID-19 positive cases, and not the number of accumulative total cases.
"We actually have a process and procedure for people to be...medically cleared and once medically cleared they're no longer a positive and they're no longer socially isolated," he said.
President Crow said they will consider several factors going forward on determining when a switch in learning modes would need to occur, citing community (social) spread, university spread and capacity for isolating sick students. He also noted the university is working on random sampling, to give a better indication of how prevalent the virus is on campus. He said while ASU did change what housing mode students are in to mitigate virus spread, those numbers are decreasing.
"This is our management strategy, so things are being managed," Crow said.
Crow also noted the university is using a health check app to check for symptoms on a daily basis.
"We think the health app, for instance, and the testing is here to stay," he said. "You'd say, for how long? Forever. We don't see an environment where this disease is not something we are trying to manage."