A New York Times survey has revealed that there are thousands of cases of the novel coronavirus in U.S. colleges and universities, and the virus has killed 64 students and professors.
The survey by the Times found more than 26,000 cases of the COVID-19 infection in 1,500 colleges and universities in the United States since the pandemic began.
The survey includes every four-year public institution, every private college that competes in NCAA sports and others that identified cases.
Some colleges and universities are grappling with decisions to keep schools open for in-person learning. As the Times story pointed out, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill shut down in-person learning and sent undergraduates home to learn online.
Schools in Alabama, North Carolina, Florida and Texas showed high numbers of COVID-19 infections, with the University of Alabama at Birmingham topping the list with 972 cases.
UNC at Chapel Hill had 835 cases and the University of Central Florida reported 727 cases.
The University of Alabama and Auburn University reported more than 500 cases – 568 and 557, respectively – bringing the total number of cases in just three Alabama universities to 2,097. The three schools are within a roughly 150-mile radius.
The University of Georgia registered 504 cases while Texas A&M University reported 500 cases.
The University of Central Florida had the third-largest number of reported cases at 727. The University of Florida had 266 cases.
Only five cases were reported in Montana at Montana State University.
Harvard reported 30 cases while Yale said 126 cases had been identified on its campus.
The Times explains that some schools with large numbers of cases are in health care settings, such as the University of Alabama Birmingham.
The data used shows where the virus has been identified since January, not where there is a lot of infection now. The Times also said that it has counted an additional 20,000 cases at colleges since the end of July, but some of those cases are likely to have been from when the pandemic first hit.
To look up a school’s number of cases and read the rest of the story, click here.
Cox Media Group
