The number of new COVID-19 cases at Arizona State University and University of Arizona declined further this week.

ASU reported 104 new COVID-19 cases in the past week, and UA reported 118. In comparison, UA reported 261 new cases on Sept. 14 alone. 

The three state universities and Grand Canyon University each continued to report information about COVID-19 in different formats. For example, ASU and NAU focused on the number of people currently considered positive, while UA did not even include that as a metric. 

The presidents of ASU, UA and NAU planned to share information about each university’s COVID-19 response at an Arizona Board of Regents meeting Friday.

ASU: Number of current positive cases declining

ASU saw 104 new COVID-19 cases — 99 students and five faculty or staff members — in the past week, according to numbers the university released Thursday night. 

In all, 162 students and five faculty or staff were considered currently positive for COVID-19 as of Thursday, ASU said. 

The number of people considered positive for COVID-19 at one point in time has declined for a month, down from 807 students and 18 faculty and staff known to be positive as of Sept. 6, according to ASU. 

Of the students considered positive Thursday, 116 were off-campus in metro Phoenix, 42 were in isolation on the Tempe campus and the rest were in isolation among the other three campuses. 

A total of 1,852 students and 36 faculty and staff have had COVID-19 since Aug. 1, according to the university. 

With 1,888 confirmed cases out of 72,495 tests administered, ASU has had a 2.6% positivity rate since Aug. 1. A positivity rate of 5% is considered a good benchmark that the spread is under control.

The number of people in the ASU community who had COVID-19 and were no longer considered positive, including people who were positive before Aug. 1, was 1,903 students and 154 faculty and staff as of Thursday. 

UA: Number of new cases also declining

The University of Arizona reported 118 new known COVID-19 cases in the past week, according to data on its website. 

UA does not report the number of cases currently considered positive, but it reported its seven-day average number of positive test results a day declined to 28 on Wednesday from a peak of 181 on Sept. 16. 

A total of 2,342 people at UA have had COVID-19 since Aug. 4, according to the university. 

With 2,342 confirmed cases out of 39,313 tests administered, UA has had a 6% positivity rate since Aug. 4. 

Only one UA student has been hospitalized with COVID-19 symptoms, although they were treated for dehydration and released, UA spokesperson Holly Jensen told The Republic on Wednesday. The university had no reports of staff or faculty hospitalizations. 

NAU releasing few details

NAU reported it had 226 positive COVID-19 cases currently active among on- and off-campus students as of Sept. 25. The university planned to release updated numbers Friday.

The university did not release any other numbers, including its total number of confirmed cases since classes began, a spokesperson confirmed. 

“To the best of our knowledge, no students have been hospitalized for COVID-19,” an NAU spokesperson told The Arizona Republic. 

GCU reports 12 cases in past 2 weeks

Grand Canyon University reported 12 positive COVID-19 cases in the past two weeks, with 10 students and two employees. 

The university reported it has had 24 cases since Aug. 1, with 18 students and six employees. It did not report any other figures. 

A popular video posted Wednesday to the Lopes Barstool Instagram account shows at least 50 people standing in a ring around two men boxing on the GCU field. University spokesperson Bob Romantic said the school was aware of the event and that school officers broke it up. 

“Our approach since students returned to campus last week has been to educate them on COVID-19 protocols and have Public Safety officers offer masks to students if they are not able to observe physical distancing guidelines in outdoor settings,” Romantic said. 

Reach breaking news editor Kaila White at [email protected] or on Twitter @kailawhite.

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