Oregon State University said the first round of weekly random testing of students, faculty and staff turned up just one case of COVID-19.
The positive case was on OSU’s Cascades Campus in Bend. On the main campus in Corvallis, the school tested 441 students, faculty and staff last week and found no positive cases. The school also found no cases among the 73 students and employees living on or near the Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport.
OSU said it plans to test up to one thousand members of its campus community each week while school is in session. The test subjects are randomly selected from a pool of volunteers. The university said more than 2,500 people have signed up as volunteers.
The results don’t mean the campus has been free of the virus. The university has reported 99 total cases dating back to early July. Of those, 28 were discovered when students were tested as they moved onto campus in September. Students who tested positive at that time were given a choice of isolating on campus or returning home.
