University of Maine System COVID Data by Campus
67 — Known cases 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.
- 59 UMaine:
- 0 UMA:
- 1 UMF:
- 0 UMFK:
- 0 UMM:
- 2 UMPI:
- 5 USM:
- 0 Maine Law
The above data reflect 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 the isolation period, the active case number shared in the Together for Maine daily update is reduced to reflect that change.
UMS is reporting 67 known cases today, 3 cases more than reported in the last update. Today’s data reflects 8 new cases and 5 completions of isolation since the last update. Prior updates are archived at Together.Maine.edu.
19 of the current active cases are residential students
- 92% of university-administered quarantine space currently available
- 89% of university-administered isolation spaces available
Asymptomatic Screening Update for 20–21 Academic Year
- 126,506 Test Results to Date
- 446 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 Scientific Advisory Board Review of Round 8 Testing: The University of Maine System Science Advisory Board (SAB), chaired by President Joan Ferrini-Mundy, has reviewed the results of the latest data connected with COVID-19 asymptomatic testing. This review includes the 8th 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 recently completed Round 8, the positivity rate was approximately 0.39%. Sample collection for this round of testing ended Sunday, March 28. The positivity rate is based on 34 positive results of approximately 8,700 tests which were completed to a final positive or negative result. A running two-week report of tests also is posted on the University’s online testing dashboard. The data for that longer period of time reflects a positivity rate of 0.42% or 63 positive results of 15,046 tests as of April 1. (Note: The dashboard data includes the pool of all tests while the individual round analysis considers only positive and negative tests, so the analysis in each instance is slightly different.) The national positivity rate is currently estimated at 4.8% as of March 31. Maine’s daily positivity rate is variable and stood at 4.9% on March 29 and 2.5% on March 30 for combined PCR and antigen tests, per Maine CDC. A positivity rate for the University System’s Round 9 of asymptomatic testing, for which sample collection is now in progress and ends on April 4, 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 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 6 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 approximately 0.47% for the sample collection period ending March 28.
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 also 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.