COVID cases are on the rise and now represent one-third of the total cases in Washtenaw County

ANN ARBOR – The number of COVID-19 cases has increased at the University of Michigan and now makes up 34% of the total cases in Washtenaw County, university officials reported Tuesday.

In the update, officials also shared that 11 off-campus residences are now in quarantine due to positive cases or face-to-face meetings that took place during the school’s residency recommendation, which expires at 11:59 PM on Sunday, February. 7. This includes undergraduate, graduate, and professional students living on and off campus.

The recommendation was spurred by the Washtenaw County health department as several new cases of the new highly contagious B117 COVID-19 variant were reported on campus. All sports at UM have been interrupted since 23 January due to outbreaks of the variant in the department.

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Read: Students at the University of Michigan asked to stay home to stop the spread of the virus

The number of homes quarantined has doubled since Saturday as a result of new positive cases and potential exposures.

Those in quarantine will receive pop-up tests on day five of their 14 days of isolation, and all students are encouraged to be tested for the virus every week, even if they are asymptomatic.

Read: The University of Michigan has identified virus outbreaks in off-campus homes

According to UM’s COVID Dashboard, the university reported 438 positive cases in the past 14 days and 36,065 tests had been administered in the same period. According to preliminary data, the positivity rate in the week of January 31 rose to 14.3% from 1.3% the week before.

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Starting February 3, UM will offer free COVID-19 saliva testing for Ann Arbor residents living near campus.

For more information on when and where city residents testing takes place, click here.

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