Allen Community College has been hit hard with COVID-19 since the fall semester began.
“We ballooned up to a very large number,” said vice president Cynthia Jacobson, in reference to the total number of cases.
At one point, “our classrooms were getting pretty sparse,” she added, due to the number of individuals having to quarantine.
So far this semester, the college has had to navigate:
— 52 positive coronavirus cases.
— 249 individuals either positive or in isolation.
— 197 individuals quarantined, with some requiring quarantine more than once.
At the highest point of reporting, Sept. 25, there were 29 concurrent positive cases.
As of Tuesday, however, there were only two active cases and 11 individuals in quarantine.
When a member of Great Western dining staff tested positive, meal service at ACC was temporarily thrown into disarray given the entire staff had to quarantine, but no other members of the meal service team tested positive.
Local restaurants also stepped up to help in the absence of the Great Western staff members.
In total, four athletics teams have been affected by COVID-19, where at one point, three teams were simultaneously in quarantine.
Since the beginning of the school year, 18 employees have had to either quarantine or remain in isolation, though only three tested positive.
According to Jacobson, the vast majority of virus transmissions seem to have occurred in residence hall settings rather than in classrooms.
She also said that contact tracing efforts had seemed to be quite successful, and that safety and cleaning protocols being used in classrooms were working well.
