University of Pittsburgh officials confirmed at least one case of the U.K. covid-19 variant has cropped up on campus, something they believe will lead to an uptick in cases that have already spiked in recent days.
“We confirmed that the U.K. variant … is present on the Pittsburgh campus,” the university’s Covid-19 Medical Response Office wrote online Tuesday. “This variant is more transmissible and will likely lead to an increase in cases.”
As of Tuesday, 39 students were actively in isolation along with six faculty and staff members, according to the school’s covid-19 dashboard. The five-day moving average of positive cases per day is 4.6.
That’s down slightly after a high of 8.8 reported March 17, the same day the campus saw 17 positive tests. Six students and two staff members have tested positive since Friday.
Officials blamed the spike in cases on the “two consecutive weekends where students gathered in large numbers.”
The spike in Pitt’s cases mirrors the overall portrait of where things stand across the state and in Allegheny County, where case counts have been ticking slightly upward over the past week.
Pennsylvania reported 3,515 additional covid cases and 39 deaths Tuesday, according to the Department of Health. Tuesday’s case count (2,399 confirmed and 1,116 probable) marks the eighth time reported cases have been over 3,000 this month.
The seven-day case average in the state is now 3,033, the highest it has been in March.
Last week, Pitt Chancellor Patrick Gallagher announced that the school, which has operated on a limited in-person basis since the pandemic shutdown last year, plans to return to normal operations in the fall, including reopening university housing at normal capacity and offering a full range of on-campus activities.
