Northern Arizona University officials have confirmed at least 96 cases of COVID-19 among students in the last week. It follows the start of in-person classes and comes a month after about 7,000 students began moving back onto the campus. KNAU’s Ryan Heinsius reports.
NAU officials said Friday they were managing 96 total COVID cases among students both on and off campus. The university requires infected people to quarantine and NAU conducts contact tracing after a case is confirmed.
The university has administered 2,300 tests since Sept. 2 among students, faculty, staff and community members, and will continue to test through the fall semester.
NAU halted in-person classes in the spring because of the pandemic. Officials say nearly 4,400 students have opted to take classes exclusively online this semester. In all, 29,569 students are currently enrolled at NAU.
Some NAU faculty and staff, however, say in-person classes could threaten public health on campus and in the Flagstaff community, and are urging leadership to return to all-virtual instruction.
The University of Arizona has confirmed more than 1,100 cases since end of July. Arizona State University says more than 1,400 students, faculty and staff have been infected.
