Local

UNCC confirms 2 COVID-19 clusters after students in 3 dorms ‘proactively’ tested

CHARLOTTE — Officials with the University of North Carolina-Charlotte said the school proactively tested all students in three residence halls because of a recent uptick in on-campus COVID-19 cases.

After the university completed an additional 658 proactive tests, it determined there were two clusters in two residence halls -- one with eight infected students and the other with six infected students. The two clusters included students who tested positive before the additional testing started.

UNCC also said it identified a possible cluster involving both on-campus and off-campus students.

The university said all students who tested positive will be in quarantine until they are cleared.

Channel 9 education reporter Elsa Gillis went on campus Friday to speak to those affected by the announcement.

(A cluster is defined by the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services as a minimum of five cases with illness onsets or initial positive results within a 14-day period and a plausible epidemiologic linkage between cases.)

Students said the involved dorms are Laurel, Levine and Lynch Hall.

Freshman Blake Wasco lives in Laurel Hall and thinks the proactive testing is a good idea.

“I think it’s a good way to try and catch it early,” he said.

Anyone who lives in the three dorms must stay in their respective buildings until they can be tested for COVID-19, school officials said. Meal service will be provided.

Residents will have to stay in their dorms until their test results are returned.

“I mean everyone should be tested in that dorm just to keep everyone safe,” said Kelsey Pacheco, another UNCC freshman. “I feel safer here than any other university around.”

“Those testing positive or identified as a close contact of anyone who tests positive will be placed in quarantine/isolation in accordance with the University’s on-campus quarantine/isolation protocols,” the school said in a release. “Any close contacts will be notified through the University’s contact tracing team.”

Earlier this month, students living in Holshouser dorm had to all be tested after the virus that causes COVID-19 was detected in the building’s wastewater.