Revamped COVID-19 dashboard includes positivity rate, breakdown of different testing groups

A+screenshot+of+the+summary+of+all+COVID-19+testing+at+UTSA+on+the+universitys+COVID-19+dashboard.+This+information+is+from+Oct.+15.

Courtesy of UTSA

A screenshot of the summary of all COVID-19 testing at UTSA on the university’s COVID-19 dashboard. This information is from Oct. 15.

Josh Peck, News Editor

UTSA recently revamped their COVID-19 dashboard to now include more information about positivity rates, athletic testing, the proactive testing program, symptomatic testing and isolation and quarantine in UTSA-owned housing. Out of 3,996 total administered tests to students, faculty and staff, 31 have returned positive — 29 of which are from students and two of which are from faculty or staff. The overall positivity rate is 0.78%. 

The new dashboard separates symptomatic, asymptomatic and athletic testing for individual viewing. The largest proportion of tests, 86% of them, comes from UTSA athletics, where 3,452 of the total 3,996 tests have been administered. Conference USA rules mandate that football players must be tested three times every week, for example. Based on that rule, 348 COVID-19 tests are administered in a single week to the full roster of 116 student-athletes on the Roadrunner football team. 10 students in UTSA athletics have tested positive for COVID-19, representing slightly more than a third of all students who have tested positive. 

When athletics testing is excluded, the positivity rate for symptomatic testing and asymptomatic proactive testing is 3.5%. The overall positivity rate at UTSA since the beginning of the fall semester, 0.78%, is significantly lower than that of other Texas universities. UT Austin has had a 5.29% positivity rate since the first day of classes, and Texas A&M University has had a positivity rate of 8.71% since the first week of classes. However, both universities have tested thousands of more students than UTSA has.

As of Oct. 15, 220 residents in UTSA-owned housing had been tested through the proactive testing program — none have tested positive. 268 students and 56 symptomatic faculty and staff have also been tested for COVID-19 — 19 students and zero faculty or staff tested positive in that group. 

The new dashboard also describes the weekly change of the positivity rate for each subgroup of testing and the total administered tests; as of Oct. 15, the weekly change in positivity rate overall is +0.05%. 

Finally, the dashboard elaborates on isolation and quarantine information. The number of students in isolation and quarantine is now separated — two students are currently in isolation and 13 are in quarantine. Students in isolation have tested positive for COVID-19, and students in quarantine have been exposed to someone who has tested positive for COVID-19 or showed symptoms of the virus. This section of the dashboard also includes that UTSA has a total isolation or quarantine capacity of 300.

All testing on the dashboard only represents tests of students, faculty and staff who have a direct campus impact. A positive test has direct campus impact if the individual had been on campus within two days of their test or of the onset of symptoms.