CCSU expands testing program

COVID-19 cases rise in New Britain, on campus

As COVID-19 cases grow on Central Connecticut State’s campus and in New Britain as a whole, the school is increasing the number of students tested regularly while offering pop-up testing for faculty on campus.

CCSU has seen 15 cases among residential students and staff over the past week and currently has 13 students in isolation and another 13 under supervision in quarantine. In total, CCSU has recorded more than 60 cases among students, faculty and staff since reopening its campus in mid-August, behind only UConn among Connecticut colleges that have reported numbers regularly. The school’s positivity rate among residential students and staff rose to 3% last week, well above the state’s rate, and has been 1.55% over the past month. After initially testing 5-10% of students weekly, CCSU recently announced it would now test 25%, in hopes of catching more cases. Additionally, Central coordinated with the state to arrange for a pop-up testing site on campus this past weekend, resulting in 700 more samples.

Unlike in Storrs, where UConn has recorded dozens of cases but the broader community has seen few, CCSU has been part of a broader uptick in New Britain. The city has recorded more than 100 cases over the past two weeks, according to state numbers, and had the second most cases of any

Connecticut municipality during one recent seven-day period.

Sergio Lupo, the city’s health director, said CCSU has been one of several factors in the recent uptick.

“Some of it had to do with the university, some of it had to do with places of worship,” Lupo said. “When you have those isolated