Jacqueline Wallace/The Rider Photo
Omar E. Zapata | THE RIDER
For several weeks, UTRGV has experienced a low number of COVID-19 cases, a decline in testing and people in isolation, but a UTRGV official says the university is ready for an uptick, especially after Spring Break.
Two students tested positive for COVID-19 between March 12 and 18 and none tested positive between March 5 and 11, according to the UTRGV Confirmed Cases of COVID-19 dashboard.
Doug Arney, vice president for Administrative Support Services and chair of the Infectious Disease Committee at UTRGV, told The Rider that there have been no reported faculty COVID-19 cases in the last six weeks and no reported cases among staff for the last seven weeks.
“The more vaccines we give to people, the more that they will not become a testing statistic,” Arney said.
He said no one has been in isolation on campus in the last five weeks.
Arney said testing for COVID-19 has been declining and will continue to decline as more people receive the vaccine.
“Testing is actually going down,” he said. “We actually have changed our hours on our lines because we don’t need all the hours that we were manning. So, they’re only open half-days.”
On the Edinburg campus, testing is from 8 to 11:30 a.m. Monday through Friday. The Harlingen campus only has tests on Mondays and Fridays from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. The Brownsville campus is testing Thursdays from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. Testing is by appointment only. To schedule an appointment for a test, click here.
Asked if gatherings at popular Spring Break spots, such as South Padre Island, were going to cause an increase in COVID-19 cases on campus, Arney replied, “I saw the pictures [of people gathering for Spring Break] and if any student, faculty or staff are participating, I think the numbers will go up.”
He said if people follow safety protocols and do not come back to campus if they are experiencing any COVID-19 symptoms, then the university should not expect a rise in cases.
“Then again, you know, they believe … they feel good, and they come back to campus for some reason, and they don’t get sick until three to four days later, then that’s a problem,” Arney said.
He said the benefit of having protocols on campus, such as wearing a face coverings and social distancing, even if that individual is symptomatic or asymptomatic, is that if they follow these rules, then they will protect others and put them at less of a risk to get infected with COVID-19.
Asked if UTRGV is ready for any sudden increase of COVID-19 cases because of Spring Break, Arney replied he thinks that the university is set for it.
“We have 50 rooms already [for COVID-19 isolation],” he said. “That’ll be adequate and if not we will adjust. … If testing increases, we will cover it. Right now, we have a lot of testing capacity, and our cases managers will be able to handle any uptick that we get.”
Arney said he is hopeful that there is no increase coming after Spring Break.
“We don’t know how Spring Break will affect us until, I’d say, another week or two weeks,” he said. “We’ll know by then, so we’ll see if the numbers come up. … We’ll see if people were safe or not safe.”
