The latest round of data shows 882 students and 20 faculty members at The Ohio State University have tested positive for COVID-19. That includes 260 students who tested positive in the latest 24-hour reporting period on August 31.
The new figures, published on the school's coronavirus dashboard, show students who live off-campus have tested positive at a rate of 9.66%. That's compared to a positivity rate of 5.7% for on-campus residents. The positive test rate for dorm residents fell slightly compared to the previous reporting period.
Ohio State has said it will crack down hard on unsafe behavior, like parties and gatherings of more than 10 people in the off-campus housing area. Last week, 223 students were given interim suspensions for attending large parties, but Ohio State President Kristina Johnson said the number of actual suspensions went down after some investigations into student conduct.
“Interim means the students still need to be verified," Johnson said. "Were they at the particular party? Since then, we’ve been able to take 100 off of that list. So we’re looking at a good 120 students.”
Ohio State has tested 28,163 students between August 14-31, according to the school's COVID-19 dashboard. So far the cumulative positivity rate is 3.13%
Johnson said on All Sides With Ann Fisher on Wednesday that the school continues to work on a plan in case administrators decide to close campus again. She warned that would happen if the positivity rate remained high.
“We are working on that right now on what the planning would be," Johnson said. "I think we feel pretty good about the number of classes that are already either remote or hybrid. One of the other things we did when I came in was, we looked at models from Georgia Tech website that would say, ‘What’s the probability in a group of size x?’”
