WSU: Hey students, stay in Pullman

Washington State University is encouraging its students to stay in Pullman this Labor Day weekend for fear of spreading COVID-19 to other communities.

WSU spokesman Phil Weiler said the university is sharing this message on social media because of concerns stemming from the rise in infections among the college-age population in Pullman.

He said WSU does not want students who may be carrying the virus to visit their families in other parts of the state or country.

Zachary Mora, spokesman for WSU student body government Associated Students of WSU, said ASWSU also is encouraging students in Pullman to avoid traveling this weekend.

“We do not know how many students are planning on going home, but it seems like most people are planning to stay in Pullman to minimize spreading COVID to family members,” he wrote in an email to the Daily News.

To get a better understanding of how many students are infected, and to ease the burden on the community’s health care system, WSU has been ramping up its own COVID-19 testing sites.

Weiler said 378 students were tested Wednesday and Thursday at Cougar Health Services and at its William A. Crosetto Mobile Health Care Unit on campus. Starting Tuesday, more testing will be available as the Cougar Health Services will be fully operational and a National Guard unit will be on hand administering tests.

The National Guard will set up its testing site at the Steptoe Apartments on 1630 NE Valley Road and be available 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday next week.

Weiler said the university decided to make all testing on campus free for students.

He said more testing will allow the university to get a better sense of how many students are infected and get them into isolation.

Pullman Regional Hospital is reporting that just below 25 percent of all COVID-19 tests administered at its testing site the past two weeks were positive.

The hospital administered 1,687 tests between Aug. 19 and Sept. 1. It says 418 of those tests were positive.

Another 51 positive cases of COVID-19 were reported Friday in Whitman County, bringing the total to 707, according to Whitman County Public Health.

Almost half of the cases, or 343, have been reported in the last week.

The new cases include eight females and seven males younger than 20, 15 women and 20 men between 20 and 39 and one woman 40 to 59. All 51 people are stable and isolating.

Seven new cases were confirmed Friday in Latah County, according to Public Health - Idaho North Central District. The newly infected people bring the total to 257 cases, including 247 confirmed and 10 probable. Of the 257 cases, 102 have recovered, 103 are in their 20s and 51 are 10 to 19.

There were 233 confirmed and probable cases this time last week in Latah County.

The new cases include two women 10 to 19, two women in their 20s, a woman in her 40s, a woman in her 60s and a man in his 60s.

No one has died from the virus in either county and two people were previously hospitalized in Whitman County.