With one week of in-class instruction remaining, the University of Miami passed 1,000 cases of Covid-19. This includes cumulative cases among faculty, staff and students for the fall semester across UM’s three campuses. According to UM’s Covid-19 dashboard, as of Nov. 14, there have have been 1,040 reported cases since Aug. 16, largely among residential and non-residential students who make up 911 of the cases and 129 for faculty and staff.
The news comes during a recent surge in reported cases at UM and across the country. UM reported a record number of new positive cases on Nov. 12, less than two weeks after many UM students went to Key West to party during Halloween where they ignored university COVID protocols. With less than two weeks until Thanksgiving, the dashboard indicates 120 active cases among residential students and 124 among non-residential students.
Although more off-campus students have gotten COVID than their on-campus counterparts, the rate of on-campus infections is significant. According to UM’s website, 4,199 students live on campus, which indicates an infection rate of 8.9 percent for on-campus students, over double the national infection rate.
On Friday, Nov. 13 at 3 p.m., with 983 reported cases at the time, UM sent out an email praising the success of the semester.
“I am proud of the students, faculty and staff who came together and made it possible to have in-person instruction,” reads the email, which was signed by Roy Weiss, UM’s Chief Medical Officer for the Covid-19 pandemic. “Many believed that it could not be done, but we succeeded with minimal infections.”
Although all the plans for next semester are not yet known, the university has indicated repeatedly that in-class instruction will take place.