Week two COVID-19 test results have been released and the testing strategy was explained by Iowa State President Wendy Wintersteen.

During the second week of fall semester classes, 1,749 students, staff and faculty were tested. Of these tests, 503 were positive, meaning the positivity rate for the second week was 28.8 percent.

This number is an increase from the first week’s positivity rate, 13.6 percent.

Since Aug. 1, the cumulative positivity rate for on-campus testing is 18.5 percent. Iowa State now has 633 positive cases of COVID-19 since classes started on Aug. 17.

In the email Wintersteen sent out on Monday, she addressed the increase in cases, stating the increased positivity rate is not unexpected due to the targeted testing strategy being used.

“The individuals being tested are symptomatic or have potentially been exposed to someone with COVID-19, so they are more likely to test positive,” the email stated.

The number also includes student athletes that have mandatory testing as required by the NCAA.

Wintersteen also included a quote from Dr. Alex Ramirez, professor of veterinary diagnostic and preventative medicine and faculty adviser for the public health team, about the positivity rate from this morning’s town hall.

“While the percentage of positive cases among those tested is relatively high, the actual number of positives is small when considering the entire campus population,” Ramirez said. “Because the university is taking a targeted approach to testing, it is minimizing the risk to others.”

Wintersteen announced Iowa State will now be updating COVID-19 testing data through a new public health data website.

The majority of transmission and exposure is occurring off-campus, but mitigation strategies put into place for labs and classrooms have been proving their effectiveness.

Wintersteen addressed social gatherings and reiterated the importance of following the new social gathering guidelines implemented Aug. 21.

“Unfortunately, we are now seeing the impacts of the large parties and gatherings that occurred the weekend before classes started,” she said. “For that reason, we enacted the new student social gathering policy. We also appreciate the Governor’s decision to close bars in Ames and Story County. In addition, we are increasing our on-campus testing capacity and enhancing the contact tracing process to quickly identify and isolate cases.”

In the town hall, Wintersteen said there is no plan to move classes online at this point in time, due to transmission and exposure mostly occurring off-campus.

In addition to increased testing capacity, Iowa State will be establishing a second testing site on campus at Johnny’s in Hilton Coliseum, and hiring more contact tracers and case managers to increase the timeliness of identifying those who have been in contact with a known positive case.

Wintersteen ended her email by saying students, faculty and staff are required to report their results to Iowa State if they are tested at an off-campus location.

“Health information reported to Thielen Student Health Center is not shared; you don’t need to fear disciplinary action for doing the responsible thing to report your case,” Wintersteen said.

Off-campus test results can be reported using Thielen Student Health Center’s self-reporting form.