Today, Wagner College President Joel W. Martin reported results from the college’s comprehensive coronavirus testing program, which tests every person on campus every week for Covid-19.
Wagner’s testing program is being administered in collaboration with the Broad Institute, a research organization of Harvard University and MIT. Broad’s high-throughput Covid-19 testing facility has processed more than 1.1 million Covid-19 tests since March, and it now processes approximately 1 in every 20 tests nationwide.
Out of the 1,829 tests administered on the Wagner College campus over the past two weeks, there have been no positive tests for the coronavirus.
The college currently has 620 students living on campus.
“Our students have shown great leadership as we’ve re-opened campus,” President Martin said. “These are strong results, and I am proud of the Wagner community for its commitment to health and safety.
“But we cannot become complacent,” he added, “we must remain vigilant and continue to hold ourselves and each other to the highest standard.”
Below are more specific pieces of the overall Covid-19 test results for the first two weeks of classes this semester at Wagner College.
Wagner transmission rate (R0): 0.0
R0 — pronounced as “r-naught” or “r-zero” — is a term used by infectious disease experts for the number of people who are likely to become infected by each individual who tests positive for Covid-19. According to Healthline:
- If R0 is less than 1, each existing infection causes less than one new infection. In this case, the disease will decline and eventually die out.
- If R0 equals 1, each existing infection causes one new infection. The disease will stay alive and stable, but there won’t be an outbreak or an epidemic.
- If R0 is more than 1, each existing infection causes more than one new infection. The disease will be transmitted between people, and there may be an outbreak or epidemic.
Testing results (past two weeks)
Out of 1,829 tests conducted:
- 0 (0.0%) positive
- 1,818 (99.4%) negative
- 11 (0.6%) invalid tests
Quarantine/isolation data
- No students or employees living on campus are currently quarantined or isolated
- No students or employees who commute to campus are currently quarantined or isolated
- No quarantine beds on campus are currently in use
Comparison figures for New York City & New Jersey
- New Jersey — 3.8 total new cases per 100K people, a 0.99% positive test result rate
- New York City — 3.35 total new cases per 100K people, a 0.80% positive test result rate
For complete information on Wagner College’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, visit our Covid-19 website.
