Worrisome trend at Pitt continues as commencement nears

With student infections still rising at the University of Pittsburgh, and drastically fewer individuals responding to invitations for surveillance testing, campus officials announced late Tuesday they will change strategies.

“Beginning next week, we will no longer conduct randomized surveillance testing on the Pittsburgh campus,” the university said in its latest medical COVID-19 update. “Instead, we will use the Posvar site to make testing available to any asymptomatic student on the Pittsburgh campus, no questions asked.”

Hours there will be expanded.

“If you feel you may have been exposed, have not been following mitigation measures or shelter-in-place protocols or simply want to know if you have COVID-19, please schedule a time to come for testing,” the statement said.

Case rates remain elevated nearly a week into a shelter -in-place on the 29,000-student campus, including 28 new infections Friday, an all-time single-day high, officials said. The moving five-day average of new daily infections did decline slightly from 13 as of Friday to 12.2. The previous week, the daily average was under nine.

Since its last report on Friday, Pitt’s COVID-19 medical response office says 46 students have tested positive, 94 students are in isolation and two additional employees tested positive.

The rates approximate levels from November, but the pattern has changed.

“Most of the cases we’re seeing are in small pockets throughout multiple residence halls,’’ read the COVID-19 update. “Contact tracing has not revealed clear connections between these clusters, though we suspect off-campus spread.”

Administrators are concerned that pandemic fatigue may be driving some student decisions.

It was a week ago when Pitt officials said the virus was widespread in 13 residence halls. A day later, the university instituted a shelter-inplace order for students that initially was not expected to start until April 16.

With the first commencement ceremony less than a month away, officials’ unease has been compounded by the presence on campus and in Allegheny County of the U.K. variant, B 1.1.7. The university earlier provided a tentative schedule of ceremonies between April 30 and May 24 .

Smaller infection numbers have been reported since on Pitt’s regional campuses.