Not enough USC students who have coronavirus are getting tested, officials say
University of South Carolina officials are urging more students to get tested for COVID-19 as the number of students getting tested for the sickness continues to decrease.
Between Friday and Monday (a four day time span), USC tested 651 students, down from 1,128 last Tuesday through Thursday (a three-day time span), according to USC data. The number of cases — and the percent positive — has continued to decline throughout campus, but USC officials think many sick students may not be getting tested at all.
“Our cases are coming down, but I think you also probably noticed we’re doing less testing,” said USC spokesman Larry Thomas. “I think one thing to point out on this issue is we have plenty of availability. What we’re seeing is we don’t have the demand as much as we did at one point.”
Thomas does think cases are decreasing throughout campus, something reflected by USC’s coronavirus dashboard, which it updates twice weekly with campus COVID-19 case numbers, percent positive, quarantine capacity and more. Thomas cites declining virus indicators in wastewater testing, a number USC has not been posting to its dashboard.
There are a few reasons why students are not getting tested, Thomas said. Students may believe testing capacity continues to lag on campus after an incident earlier this month when the lab that processes saliva testing was briefly closed and then reopened with limited capacity because a crucial lab staffer became sick, Thomas said.
“There is that belief that there isn’t testing available because of that hiccup around saliva testing,” Thomas said.
There are other reasons students may not be getting tested, such as “test fatigue” or students with mild symptoms staying home and isolating in lieu of getting a test, Thomas said.
It’s also possible the decrease in testing demand is driven by students partying less — something USC President Robert Caslen has attributed to the declining case count — as the semester progresses and coursework requires more assignments and tests, USC spokesman Jeff Stensland said.
Though cases have decreased to below 100, Stensland and Thomas warned that students are likely to gather for upcoming Gamecock football games and Halloween before returning home for Thanksgiving break, which could increase case numbers both on and off campus.
“We’re very pleased with our numbers declining, but we also don’t want to get complacent in making sure our students are healthy,” Thomas said.
This story was originally published September 23, 2020 at 1:13 PM.