COVID-19-report, 15 January

Students at Uppsala University are in the midst of their exam period for the 2020 autumn semester, which means more students are on campus. “We appeal to students to try to find good alternatives at home for their studies, if possible, but when they need to use campus facilities they must continue to maintain a good distance and pay attention to instructions from our social distancing wardens and campus security staff.”

This appeal comes from coronavirus coordinator Fredrik Blomqvist, who adds that it has been a quiet week from a coronavirus perspective. The situation in Region Uppsala remains under strain, however – though with a cautiously positive trend, which will hopefully last.

To summarise the infection situation, as of 15 January there have been 501 confirmed cases of COVID-19 since the start of the autumn semester 2020.

This figure breaks down as follows:

423 Bachelor’s and Master’s students (including 9 on Gotland) – an increase of 18 cases.
11 doctoral students – no increase.
67 members of staff – an increase of 3 cases.

If you are confirmed infected, the Communicable Diseases Act requires you to inform people who have been in your proximity and whom you may have infected.
Uppsala University has created an online procedure to help you do this anonymously.

If you are confirmed infected with COVID-19, it is very important that you make sure to stay at home: do not go to campus, to exam rooms or to work – and keep up to date with the infection control unit’s rules of conduct.

Across the disciplinary domains

The 423 Bachelor’s and Master’s students confirmed infected are distributed across the disciplinary domains as follows (change from previous week in parentheses):

Hum/Sam – 166 (+5) confirmed cases
Med/Farm – 201 (+13) confirmed cases
Tek/Nat – 56 – no new confirmed cases

The confirmed cases can be linked to 235 different courses and programmes (different semesters). 90 courses/programmes have more than two confirmed cases.

Managing confirmed infections in education

When an infection is confirmed, the disciplinary domain concerned deals with the question of whether teaching should continue to be conducted on campus (if that is currently being done) or whether there is reason to switch to online education. Region Uppsala carries out contact tracing and contacts the individuals deemed necessary in view of the contacts reported by the infected person. The University has no responsibility for this process.

Number of cases in Region Uppsala and in Region Gotland

Number of people confirmed infected in Region Uppsala: week 52 (21-27 December)1204, week 53 (28 Dec-3 January)1363 and week 01 (4-10 January) 1120.
Number of people confirmed infected in Region Gotland: week 52 (21-27 December)121, week 53 (28 Dec-3 January) 116 and week 01 (4-10 Jauary) 155.
Source: Public Health Agency of Sweden

The Communicable Diseases Act requires:

If you are confirmed infected, the Communicable Diseases Act requires you to inform people whom you suspect you may have infected. As part of Uppsala University’s efforts to reduce the spread of COVID-19 infection, the University has created an online procedure to help you do this anonymously.

To test or not to test

The infection control doctor in Uppsala County requests those who have been confirmed infected not to get tested again after recovering from COVID-19. Doing so has no medical benefits and is an unnecessary drain on testing resources. Resources for PCR testing in Region Uppsala are under great strain.

The previously announced guidelines, decision and supplementary decision for reducing the spread of COVID-19 infection remain in effect.

Gunilla Sthyr

Filtration