WESTFIELD- Westfield State University officials said March 15 that the majority of the positive COVID-19 cases detected among students in the past week were found in commuter students who do not live on campus.
Westfield State University Chief of Staff Tricia Oliver said Monday that of the 31 newly confirmed COVID-19 cases that were reported by the university this week, 27 of them were commuter students. The university has a semester total of 63 positive COVID-19 case, 60 of those are students and three are employees.
The four residentd all live in Davis Hall, a dorm building consisting of single and double rooms that was quarantined on Friday, March 12 when the four positive cases were discovered.
In a brief statement, Oliver said that Westfield State’s COVID-19 risk level remains moderate, meaning that they believe there to be a low to moderate risk of spread which requires “slight campus modification, attention to personal behavior, and cooperation with required contact tracing” in order to mitigate.
Westfield State officials cannot say how many of the 27 commuter students who tested positive actually live in Westfield or in another nearby community.
All residents of Davis Hall were required to get tested for COVID-19 Monday to determine if there is further spread within the building. The results of those additional tests have not yet been made public as of Tuesday morning.
The Westfield News will provide an update to this ongoing story as more information becomes available.
