UA TO publish, update virus numbers on campus.

FAYETTEVILLE — The number of covid-19 cases on the state’s largest university campus will be published and regularly updated, said a University of Arkansas, Fayetteville spokesman.

“We hope to begin that reporting next week,” UA spokesman Mark Rushing said in an email Wednesday.

The plan is to use the university’s Coronavirus Update online site to provide updates on testing numbers for campus and on positive cases, Rushing said.

Official move-in at UA residence halls began Tuesday, though some resident assistants moved in last week.

By 4 p.m. Wednesday, 1,497 students had moved in, UA spokesman Christopher Spencer said, with more expected to arrive later this week.

Rushing declined to answer when asked about the number of active covid-19 cases among students, referring instead to plans to begin reporting case totals next week.

The plan is to provide weekly updates on covid-19 case and testing totals, Rushing said.

But he added that details are “still to be determined” when asked if student totals will be given separately from faculty and staff totals, and when asked what data sources will be used to compile the information.

Most first-year students live in dorms, as UA generally requires non-married freshmen who are under 21 years old to live in a residence hall unless staying with a parent near campus. Students can request waivers from the requirement. For this fall, UA changed its waiver application to specifically list covid-19 as a reason that new freshmen can cite if seeking to live off campus.

Before the pandemic, about 4,950 students were living in UA-managed housing this spring, a total that does not include some fraternity and sorority houses, a UA

spokesman has said. Last fall, UA enrolled more than 27,000 students, according to state data.

UA’s campus case totals for students might not be added to totals for Washington County, where Fayetteville is located.

The state Department of Health has yet to decide how to count covid-19 cases among the college student population, said department spokeswoman Danyelle McNeill.

Cases could be added to county totals where the campus is located, or the cases could be added to totals based on the county where the student is from if that’s considered the student’s permanent residence.

McNeill also said no decision has been made about how to count cases involving out-of-state students attending a college in Arkansas. In recent years at UA, roughly half of the incoming freshman class has come from outside the state.

“ADH is still deciding on how positive cases in out of state and out of county college students will be reflected in the daily numbers,” McNeill said in an email Wednesday.

While student move-in is ongoing for many large public universities, they have so far differed in what information they release about campus covid-19 cases.

Last month, The New York Times reported that there is no standard method for reporting covid-19 cases on college campuses. McNeill, with the Arkansas Department of Health, said the agency has not given any guidance to colleges and universities about publishing campus covid-19 case totals.

The University of Texas at Austin publishes a “dashboard” with information and a chart of new covid-19 cases per day, including a total for students and a total for workers and faculty members.

Among Arkansas campuses, John Brown University, a private Christian university in Siloam Springs, has begun posting case totals online. Arkansas Tech University on its website reports active cases within its Russellville and Ozark campuses, as well as among online students and employees working from home.

Other universities, however, have chosen not to publish covid-19 campus case totals.

“It is the responsibility of the local health departments to release any information concerning the spread of COVID-19,” states the website of Kansas State University.