In an effort to keep the university community and the public informed, Temple University on Aug. 18 launched an online COVID-19 case count dashboard, joining many other universities across the country that have created similar resources.

The dashboard logs active COVID-19 cases identified among students and staff, dividing them into three categories: on-campus, off-campus and non-campus cases.

“On-campus cases” are those in which the student or staff member who tested positive has been in a Temple facility during the time they were infectious. “Off-campus cases” are those in which there is no evidence that the person who tested positive for COVID-19 has been on campus while infectious, but resides in close proximity to a Philadelphia-area campus. “Non-campus cases” are those in members of the university community who have neither been in a campus facility nor residing near a campus during the period they were infectious. 

Counts include active cases among students and staff only on Temple’s Philadelphia region campuses: Main Campus, Temple University Center City, the Health Sciences Center, Ambler Campus and the School of Podiatric Medicine. “Active cases” are those who have tested positive for COVID-19 and have not yet met the criteria for system-based recovery, which include: 10 days since a positive test, at least 24 hours without a fever (and without use of fever-reducing medications, like Tylenol or aspirin), and improvement in any other symptoms (e.g., cough, shortness of breath, gastrointestinal symptoms). 

Case counts on the dashboard will be updated twice per week. 

On Aug. 17, COVID-19 testing of all students moving into campus housing started in order to begin establishing a baseline case count for campus. Students and staff coming to campus from “hot” states as identified by the Philadelphia Department of Public Health will also be required to be tested for the virus. 

Testing of students and staff for whom it is indicated will continue in the coming months, as the university opens a dedicated COVID-19 testing center on the street level of Morgan Hall and establishes its own contact-tracing team that will work in conjunction with the city health department. Student and Employee Health Services will screen members of the university community via telehealth visits and, if needed, schedule appointments for COVID-19 tests. 

The COVID-19 case count dashboard, testing plan and contact-tracing team are among many modifications and changes Temple has made to reduce the spread of the virus and ensure a safe return to campus. 

Learn more about Temple’s preparations for the return to campus and COVID-19 testing plan.