University of Maine System COVID Data by Campus
25 — Known Case of UMS students or employees in public health agency isolation among the more than 30,000 students, faculty, and staff in the University of Maine System community.
The University of Maine System has started the spring semester. These data would also include university students or employees known to have an active case of COVID-19 but not necessarily living in the campus region or state.
- 15 UMaine:
- 1 UMA:
- 3 UMF:
- 0 UMFK:
- 0 UMM:
- 0 UMPI:
- 5 USM:
- 1 Maine Law
The above Data reflects ACTIVE known cases identified through the UMS asymptomatic screening and verified self-reports of University students, faculty, and staff from independent testing. When an individual completes their isolation period, the active case number shared in the Together for Maine daily update is reduced to reflect that change.
UMS is reporting 25 known cases today, 6 cases more than reported in the last update. Today’s data reflects 7 new cases and 1 completion of isolation since the last update. Prior updates are archived at Together.Maine.edu.
8 of the current active cases are residential students
- 98% of university-administered quarantine space currently available
- 97% of university-administered isolation spaces available
Asymptomatic Screening Update for 20-21 Academic Year
- 97,979 Test Results to Date
- 325 positive results representing new diagnoses of COVID-19
The Asymptomatic Screening Dashboard at Together.Maine.edu represents known results on all asymptomatic tests going back to July 22, 2020. About 48 hours passes from the time a test sample is collected and when the results are known.
UMS News
UMS Science Advisory Board Review of Latest Round of COVID-19 Asymptomatic Screening: The University of Maine System Science Advisory Board, chaired by President Joan Ferrini-Mundy, has reviewed the results of the latest data connected with COVID-19 testing. This review includes the 5th round of Phase 6 testing for individuals. Phase 6 represents the ongoing testing of the in-person population – students, staff, and faculty – for the spring semester. This follows previous phases of testing in the fall, winter, and during the return of students for spring. For wastewater testing, the results are the latest version of testing at multiple campuses.
For the just completed Round 5, the positivity rate was approximately 0.1%. Sample collection for this round of testing ended Sunday, March 7. Results reflect 9 positive results of approximately 9,000 tests which were completed to a final positive or negative result.* A running two-week report of all tests, including those excluded from this calculation because they concluded in an outcome other than negative or positive result, is posted on the University’s online testing dashboard. In that slightly different view of the data and for an overlapping but different period of time, the positivity rate would be a little below 0.1% (15 positives of 16,719 tests) as of March 11. The national positivity rate is currently estimated at 5.8% as of March 10. Maine’s daily positivity rate is variable and stood at 3.4% on March 8 and at 1.7% as of March 10 for combined PCR and antigen tests, per Maine CDC. A positivity rate for the University’s Round 6 of asymptomatic testing, for which sample collection is now in progress and ends on March 14, will be calculated and included in a future update once those results are fully returned and reviewed.
The Science Advisory Board also estimates a prevalence rate. A prevalence rate is a different measure from the positivity rate. A positivity rate is the percentage of tests that are positive out of the total number of tests conducted. While the University System’s current testing protocol includes all in-person students, staff, and faculty, in practice there are always bona fide exceptions or variations and other reasons why a test result is not obtained for every single member of the group. So, the Board estimates the prevalence rate to understand the number of positive tests that would result if it were truly possible to test every single member of the population without exception. Based on the data for the just completed Round 5 of University testing, the data support an inference with 95% confidence that the University System’s in-person population had an estimated prevalence rate of not more than 0.15% for that time period.
The University System and SAB this spring have launched a new dashboard for reporting Wastewater Testing results. Wastewater is sampled at each participating campus and the SAB monitors the test results for increasing or decreasing trends. This surveillance testing serves as a check on the individual testing occurring on each campus and as a mechanism for obtaining a potential early warning of an increase in the disease.
* This week’s data marks a shift in methodology to calculate the core positivity based on the pool of positive and negative results for a given period of time. Previously and sometimes still, the positivity was calculated based on a pool that included all positives and negatives, but also various other outcomes, some as inconclusive results or rejected samples. Going forward, all results other than positive and negative will be excluded from the core positivity rate. The net effect of this is that historical positivity rate comparisons may shows a slight variation compared with the current methodology but these effects are generally small and do not materially impact the rate. The increased consistency of method is a conservative change and, if anything, will make the University’s positivity rate appear very slightly higher than it might have appeared using the former methodology.