COVID-19 update: TWU reports ‘slightly more’ students in isolation as in-person events resume -

*** Editor’s note: Isolation refers to somebody that has either been confirmed to have COVID-19 or is presumed to have COVID, while quarantine refers to anyone who has had exposure to a suspected person who either is confirmed or is presumed confirmed. ***

According to the list of confirmed COVID-19 cases – which only documents students and staff who have a direct on-campus connection – there are currently nine Texas Woman’s University students in isolation and 19 quarantined after being exposed to the novel coronavirus.

Despite the slight increase, TWU is moving forward with its kickoff of in-person events. Matt Moustakas, executive director of risk management, said TWU has been conservative with in-person events, implementing things like social distancing, facial coverings, traffic control, approval from the vice president of student life, sanitization and attendance. These protocols, Moustakas said, are reflected in TWU’s slow increase in case count.

“It’s been slowly – you know – relatively steady, maybe slowly creeping up since the beginning of the semester,” Moustakas said. “So, the fact that maybe a few more in-person events have been approved than at the beginning of the semester, it doesn’t seem to have had a huge impact.”

Events like Boo at the U and TWU’s status as a polling location were canceled to limit the number of outside visitors from the community, university spokesperson Matt Flores said

“I think there’s a lot of thought that the university is putting into whether an event can still go on, but we can reasonably cater towards those social distancing protocols,” Flores said. “Don’t think we’re going to let something like that happen.”

Spaces where TWU community members who have tested positive will be cleaned according to Centers for Disease Control guidelines, and university’s contact tracing team will reach out to anyone who may have come into close contact with an individual that has tested positive for the virus, according to TWU’s coronavirus webpage.