COVID-19 reentry testing drops campus positivity rate

Craig Chandler | University Communication

Bria Foley, a senior pre-med major, hands a package that contains a vial, straw and alcohol wipe to a walk-up test to a walk-up testee at the East Stadium COVID-19 saliva test station on Jan. 19.

The University of Nebraska–Lincoln reported 154 positive cases of COVID-19 during the most current seven-day period (Jan. 21-27).

During that same span, 17,842 tests were conducted on students, faculty and staff. This is the first week that the university’s saliva-based reentry testing has been folded into the COVID-19 Dashboard. The inclusion of the nearly 22,000 reentry tests (which doubles the total number of results since COVID-19 testing began on Aug. 15) dropped the weekly positivity rate significantly, from 3.8% on Jan. 20 to .86% this week.

Additional testing sources include the on campus TestNebraska site, University Health Center and all other off-campus testing facilities.

Since university-specific testing began on Aug. 12, 2,407 total cases have been recorded out of 47,449 tests, for a positivity rate of 5%.

This report is generated weekly and presented in Nebraska Today on Fridays.

Data is gathered from the university’s COVID-19 dashboard, which is tracking case and test totals daily. All COVID-19 testing information is provided to the university from the Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department.

Learn more about the university’s ongoing response to COVID-19.