Two UT-Austin Students Living on Campus Test Positive for COVID-19

Health precautions signage on campus at UT-Austin (Photo by John Anderson)

Two University of Texas at Austin students living on campus have tested positive for COVID-19. As first reported by UT's student newspaper, The Daily Texan, and later confirmed to the Chronicle by UT spokesperson J.B. Bird, infected students live at Jester and San Jacinto dorms. Bird confirmed close and secondary contacts have been notified per university protocol. (UT is following the Cen­ters for Disease Control and Prevention definition of "close contact," which means 15 minutes or more of exposure at a distance less than 6 feet from an individual who's tested positive.)

Those who have had close contact with the two students have been advised to self-quarantine, said Bird. Secondary contacts are also encouraged to volunteer for a saliva test through the university's proactive community testing strategy for those without symptoms. It's unclear how many contacts might have been exposed to the students; the Texan reported that at least two secondary contacts of the student living at San Jacinto were notified by email by University Housing and Dining.

According to UT's COVID-19 dashboard, 48 students, faculty, and staff have tested positive (or self-reported testing positive) for the novel coronavirus since the beginning of August, with 34 of those cases – 25 students and nine faculty/staff members – being reported since students started moving into on-campus dorms on August 17. Out of the 2,159 proactive test results reported last month, only one positive case of COVID-19 was confirmed.