Iowa State has updated its COVID-19 monitoring this year, providing a weekly update of testing results and positivity rates on campus.

Last academic year, the university provided daily updates to their COVID-19 dashboard and reported asymptomatic cases. 

This year, testing data is updated weekly and only students who exhibit symptoms of the virus are eligible for testing. 

The Iowa State COVID-19 dashboard is updated every Wednesday with data from the previous week. 

“There is going to be a new ‘COVID-19 By the Numbers’ section on the Moving Forward website where we will share some campus data and also provide some links to state and CDC data,” said Erin Baldwin, director of the Thielen Student Health Center.

As of Friday, the weekly positivity rate on campus was 6.28 percent with 14 positive cases out of 214 total tests. This statistic only represents symptomatic cases and NCAA-required athletics testing. Therefore, the actual positivity rate may be higher because asymptomatic cases are not included in the statistic. 

Iowa State also recently released the results of a survey of in-state students’ vaccination status. 

According to an Inside Iowa State update for faculty and staff released Friday, the survey indicated that 72.4 percent of in-state Iowa State students are fully vaccinated against COVID-19. 

“It’s been really encouraging to see how many people have gotten vaccinated,” Baldwin said. 

As of Wednesday, 53.9 percent of eligible Story County residents and 52.1 percent of Iowans were fully vaccinated, according to covidactnow.org.

An individual is considered fully vaccinated two weeks after receiving the second dose of a two-shot vaccine like the Moderna or Pfizer vaccine, or after receiving a single dose of the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

Iowa State has administered more than 12,900 vaccine doses and has served more than 7,600 individuals since December 2020.

Vaccines are still readily available in Ames, both through the university and at local providers. 

Thielen Student Health Center will offer free vaccination clinics through the end of September. The clinics will offer the Pfizer vaccine, which received full FDA approval in August and the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Appointments are recommended, but walk-ins are welcome for the clinics. Vaccine appointments can be scheduled online or by calling 515-294-5801. 

Students who get vaccinated at an Iowa State clinic will receive a gift card, according to Baldwin.

Students can also pick up free at-home COVID testing kits at locations across campus, including the Memorial Union information desk, the Union Drive Community Center mailroom and Thielen Student Health Center.

For more information about COVID-19 testing and vaccination at Iowa State, visit the university’s Moving Forward website.