CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Two COVID-19 clusters have been identified on the University of North Carolina at Charlotte campus, university officials confirmed in a NinerNotice alert to students Saturday.
The alert came just one day after UNCC confirmed three residence halls would be tested.
UNCC completed 658 "proactive tests" on residents and staff in three residence halls over the weekend after an uptick of COVID-19 cases connected to the campus.
Two clusters were identified from this testing: one with eight students, and one with six students. Those numbers include students who were identified before the additional testing, according to UNCC.
All students and staff who tested positive for COVID-19 are now isolating and receiving medical care. UNCC said any close contacts within the residence halls will also be placed under quarantine.
Jamie Satterfield was one of the students tested in the dorms.
"I was nerve-wracking because you really didn't know,” Satterfield said.
Her COVID-19 test came back negative, but she’s concerned that other students aren’t taking the virus seriously.
"There's ways around the rules that you can kind of see on campus and it's frustrating especially because we’re all trying to stay in our bubble and there are people who obviously aren’t," Satterfield said.
A cluster is defined by the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services as a minimum of five cases with illness onsets or initial positive results within a 14-day period and a plausible epidemiologic linkage between cases.
"It kind of seems like it's trending on the path of other universities,” Sophomore UNCC student, Will Cook said.
Cook said he thought the university was taking the right steps.
"From what I can tell they're doing a pretty good job, they've been able to isolate those students,” Cook said.
UNC Charlotte is not identifying the residence halls for the privacy of residents, but all residents and staff of the halls have received information directly from Housing and Residence Life.
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