FSU reports 12 positive coronavirus cases on more than 2,600 pre-semester tests

FROSTBURG — Frostburg State University announced Thursday that of the 2,673 students and employees who completed pre-semester, non-symptomatic COVID-19 testing from Aug. 11 to 15, either at the Cordts PE Center, or who uploaded verified results to the university portal, 12 tested positive.

The positive rate was 0.45% for FSU. According to Johns Hopkins daily testing trends, the national average rate of tests coming back positive over that same period was 7.2%.

"We went in without too many expectations," said Liz Medcalf, FSU's director of news and media relations. "We were mostly eager to have this information, and what we will get from our ongoing testing, to guide our decision making moving forward."

All students and employees with positive tests are required to quarantine away from campus, and those with positive tests results reported prior to the beginning of the semester were told to avoid the campus until cleared to come to back by a health care professional. 

More pre-semester testing was conducted Aug.16; however, the school said those results are still being certified and will be reported next week along with results from a group of students that were scheduled for testing Tuesday.

The university will be conducting surveillance testing on non-symptomatic people throughout the semester to continue to monitor the campus' ebb and flow and determine if further actions are needed. 

Students enrolled online-only — even if just for the semester — and university employees working remotely that won't be visiting campus, were not required to be tested.

The university's Fall 2020 COVID-19 testing page, located at https://www.frostburg.edu/fall2020/COVID-Testing.php, will be updated weekly with certified results reported from university conducted surveillance testing, the Brady Health Center and its testing of those showing symptoms and results uploaded to the university portal.

One positive at Potomac State

One person tested positive when Potomac State College tested 535 students, faculty and staff members Aug. 18 and 19 on its Keyser, West Virginia campus.

According to results released Thursday by the school, all 421 students tested were negative for the virus, while one of 114 faculty and staff members tested positive.

The school's fall semester began Wednesday.

Follow staff writer Brandon Glass on Twitter @Bglass13.