Jacqueline Wallace/The Rider Photo
Omar E. Zapata | THE RIDER
Two UTRGV students tested positive for COVID-19 at university testing sites between Feb. 26 and March 4, officials say.
Doug Arney, vice president for Administrative Support Services and chair of the Infectious Disease Committee at UTRGV, told The Rider that the two positive cases are both undergraduate student employees.
Arney said as of March 9, no students were being quarantined on UTRGV campuses.
Asked what his thoughts are about the low number of cases and students being quarantined these last few weeks, he replied it is a good sign.
“The more the vaccine gets out into the community the less cases we’ll have, essentially,” Arney said. “We just need to keep doing what we’re doing to get the vaccine shots in the arms.”
As of March 5, 31,708 tests had been conducted by UT Health RGV testing sites, according to the Confirmed Cases Dashboard on the UTRGV COVID-19 website.
Jacqueline Wallace/The Rider Photo
Asked if Spring Break and Gov. Greg Abbott’s recent executive orders lifting the mask mandate and reopening Texas to 100% will cause an increase in COVID-19 cases, Arney replied, “That’s yet to be determined.”
“I think if people gather and do what they’re not supposed to be doing, then cases will rise,” he said. “But if people follow [COVID-19 protocols]–for example, on campus, we still kept our current protocols in to place, face covering required, 6-foot distancing required. So, I think, if, you know, Spring Break, if people … gather without face coverings, then there’s going to be more cases.”
Arney said he thinks everybody knows what they should and should not be doing, and if students go to the South Padre Island and disregard COVID-19 guidelines, then they have a much higher chance of getting COVID.
