COVID-19 Cluster Recorded Among UMass Off-Campus Students

Several Attended Party Together 

UMass Amherst has reported an uptick in positive COVID-19 cases this week with the university’s dashboard showing 15 new cases since September 21st. This represents almost half of the total cumulative positive cases since testing began on August 6.

In an alert posted on Friday evening, UMass said that a cluster of 13 students living off-campus tested positive for COVID-19. According to the report, all are known to have socialized together and a number attended a party together. The case investigation is on-going, and close contacts are being notified to get tested and quarantine themselves. 

Jeff Hescock, executive director of Environmental Health and Safety at UMass, said the cluster highlights the need for adherence to public health practices, which include wearing face coverings, social distancing, and avoidance of gatherings. “We want to emphasize that all students living in the Amherst area should come in for asymptomatic testing at the Mullins Center twice a week,” he said. 

In addition to the students, one faculty member who lives off-campus tested positive on Thursday. The positive test was from the UMass Amherst asymptomatic testing program.

Since August 6, UMass Amherst has conducted more than 52,000 tests, including approximately 30,000 tests in the off-campus student population living in the Amherst area. Results are typically returned in one day.

In a virtual District One meeting organized by Councillors Cathy Schoen and Sarah Swartz on Tuesday, Tony Maroulis, Executive Director of External Relations and University Events, was asked how many UMass students are known to be living off-campus in Amherst and surrounding towns, and what percentage have been tested for COVID-19. While Maroulis did not have a current count of students living off campus, he said he is “quite confident that [the testing] is getting most, if not all, of our off-campus students.” The university has asked students to update their addresses in the UMass system, and has made available free twice-weekly testing for all students. Maroulis said he has received reports of higher vacancy rates than normal in local housing typically popular with students, an indication that fewer students than expected moved to the area this fall. 

The Town of Amherst’s COVID-19 website, lists 15 current cases in Amherst. Recently, the Town launched a telephone hotline and email address for residents to share concerns about large gatherings of people, either without masks or not following proper social distancing. In addition, the Town has hired a number of “COVID Ambassadors” to help enforce the downtown mask order, and provide education to residents about  preventing COVID transmission.