As of Sept. 18, UCM had 73 known active student COVID-19 cases and three faculty/staff cases. In total, the university has had 407 year-to-date cases. This is an increase from Sept. 11, when UCM reported 136 student and seven faculty/staff cases.

  Earlier in the semester, the university wasn’t publishing COVID-19 statistics. UCM President Dr. Roger Best said one of the reasons they hadn’t done so was because the campus had a low number of cases, especially compared to other universities when factoring in the size of the student body. 

  He said he didn’t want the initial figures to provide UCM an opportunity to let its guard down.

  “To some extent, my concern was if we publish the numbers, that there would be some complacency set in,” Best said.

  When case numbers were released on Sept. 11, the first of the University’s weekly updates, they showed an increase from the previous numbers of 42 student and four faculty/staff cases that were reported via email by Best on Sept. 3.

  The increase wasn’t a surprise to UCM. Best said the university had observed that students were getting complacent, including at off-campus events where masks weren’t being worn, and the data started to reflect this. He said the university was anticipating an even larger amount of positive cases.

  Despite UCM’s decrease, local cases are on the rise. As of September 20, Warrensburg is 19th on the New York Times list of the greatest number of new cases in the last two weeks.

  President Best said the university is watching the situation every day. He also said the university looks at how they are doing currently and tries to project where they will be.

  Jeffrey Murphy, the assistant director for media relations at UCM, said he has been very proud of the work university employees have done throughout the pandemic.

  “It’s important to note how many people have put in a lot of extra effort to try to make the campus as safe as possible during COVID,” Murphy said. “This is an unprecedented time for all of us.”

  Murphy also discussed the challenge that COVID-19 has brought to the university.

  “It’s taken a campus wide effort … something we just keep working at every day,” Murphy said. “This is new to us, but we’re going to continue to do the best we can to make it through this very difficult situation.”

  Interim Health Center Director Diana Herman, has been helping with contact tracing on campus. She has dealt with numerous students who are displaying symptoms of the virus.

  Herman said one of the questions she asks people who are experiencing symptoms, while having them go back to days before symptoms started, is “did you come into contact with anyone within six feet for longer than 15 minutes?”

  If those individuals were in class, she will ask if they were six feet apart and wearing masks. She said every time she has asked those questions, the answer has been yes.

  Amy Kiger, the director of campus community health, said Campus Community Health has been constantly changing COVID-19 protocol, even before the first positive UCM case on March 20.

  “We’ve been working on this, and adapting and changing constantly since January 2020,” Kiger said.

  Kiger also said the University Health Center has seen an increase in student visits this semester. Students reaching out for COVID-19 can range from 5-50 people a day.

  The university will be publishing COVID-19 updates on Fridays on its main COVID-19 webpage, which can be found on the university website.