COVID Update: Week of Nov. 14-20

Summary statement:

Positive COVID-19 cases in the URI community continued to decline during the period Nov. 14 to Nov. 20, with the weekly total falling to 19 positive cases (18 students, 1 faculty/staff/affiliate) from 34 cases the prior week. The positivity rate for this period also decreased, falling to 0.51% from 0.88% during the prior reporting period. Most cases are occurring in the off-campus student population, accounting for 17 of the 18 student cases during this period. The 7-day incidence rate for vaccinated members of the URI community dropped to 77 per 100,000, which is well below the overall Rhode Island incidence rate of ~300 per 100,000 for the same period. The 7-day incidence rate for unvaccinated members of the URI community was, however, 315 cases per 100,000, indicating a significantly higher rate of transmission among unvaccinated members of the community.

URI Health Services reports that the number of laboratory-confirmed cases of influenza and those reporting influenza-like illness declined by 28% over the previous week. Health Services has returned to having same-day illness appointments available The testing center will be closed Wednesday, Nov. 24, through Sunday, Nov. 28, and will reopen Monday, Nov. 29, from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. All students are encouraged to participate in surveillance testing upon return to URI. Testing information is available here.

Weekly Results

Weekly Tests:3,053, including 313 symptomatic tests, through URI Health Services.
Positive Cases:14 positive cases from URI testing, 5 additional cases reported to URI from external testing, 4 unvaccinated, 1 partially vaccinated, 14 vaccinated.
Weekly Positivity:7-day positivity rate of 0.51%, down from 0.88% the prior week.  This is below the state positivity rate of ~3.9% for the same period.
Incidence:The 7-day incidence of positive cases among members of our community with an approved medical/religious vaccination exemption was 315 per 100,000, dropping from over 400 per 100,000 during the prior week. The 7-day incidence rate of COVID-19 among the vaccinated URI population decreased to 77 per 100,000 from 150 per 100,000 during the prior week.

Visit the URI COVID-19 Tracker for detailed information from our testing program. The dashboard is updated daily as results become available.