The same day Florida opened vaccine eligibility to people ages 16 and up, UF opened its landmark stadium to students, staff and faculty to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine.
Since March 29, 15 UF employees and 126 students have tested positive for the virus at on-campus locations. In the seven days before that, 12 employees and 176 students tested positive.
As more students moved onto campus and registered for face-to-face classes, the university moved all of East Hall's residents out during the Fall to create an additional quarantine facility. However, the dorms have been used sparsely since January — East Hall hasn’t housed a single student this semester.
Since March 22, 12 UF employees and 176 students have tested positive for the virus at on-campus locations. The week before, nine employees and 109 students tested positive.
Since March 15, nine UF employees and 109 students have tested positive for the virus at on-campus locations. Total positive tests amount to 9,270 since March 18, 2020 as of Monday.
Since March 8, nine UF employees and 116 students have tested positive through on-campus sites. The week prior, 11 employees and 20 students tested positive.
With downward trending cases and increasing vaccine availability, things are finally starting to look up in Alachua County. But it comes after months of watching the number of cases and death toll rise. Here's how UF and Alachua County managed the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Students have altered their lives to follow social distancing protocols, stressed over online classes and attended club meetings over Zoom. They missed packing Saturdays in The Swamp, crossing the stage in a cap and gown and spending Starbucks-fueled all-nighters in the library. A year later, UF students reflect on the impact of the past year. Some talk about their return to an empty campus, and others explain how their college memories have been confined to computer screens and kitchen tables.
On Sunday, the university’s positive cases recorded since March 18 totaled 9,013. Aside from a new cumulative milestone, infection trends continue to fall.
On-campus quarantines hit the semester’s lowest occupancy at 99% availability on Tuesday. The number of people in quarantine continues to drop to new lows, with 283 isolations Monday, a decrease of 173 since last week.
UF’s COVID-19 cases for students and staff continue to fall in daily positive results and quarantines.
The CDC released a study on Feb. 10 on how double masking or improving fit can help prevent the spread of COVID-19. But, as of Tuesday, no masking updates have been made to UF, University of South Florida, Florida State University, University of Central Florida nor University of Miami policies.
Since UF started tracking cases in March, 6,097 UF students and 1,364 employees have tested positive for COVID-19. In the last week, 113 students and 17 employees tested positive.
While UF's positivity rate may look minimal, there are still about 50 to 70 cases a day, Dr. Michael Lauzardo, the head of UF Health’s Screen, Test and Protect program, said Friday at a Ben Hill Griffin stadium vaccination event.
UF Health and the Alachua County Department of Health partnered to vaccinate 1,100 county residents at Ben Hill Griffin stadium Feb.5. The free vaccinations were by appointment only for Alachua County residents over the age of 65 who previously signed up through the health department.
With the increased test administration this Spring, UF said it is taking the necessary measures to ensure the testing site volunteers, employees and thousands of students getting tested every day feel safe.
UF reported 362 COVID-19 positive cases among students in the last week on Tuesday, according to UF's testing dashboard. Now, the total positive student cases for Spring is 854.
A UF research team found vitamin D-deficient patients were more likely to be COVID-19 positive than those with a sufficient amount of the vitamin.
After 205 more UF students tested positive for COVID-19 since Jan. 19, the total number of infected students since the start of the semester is nearing 500.
UF's in-house testing remains steady while quarantine numbers drop during the first week-and-a-half of classes.
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