A fourth University of Maine student has tested positive for the coronavirus, the university said Tuesday as students continued moving into dorms during a weeklong move-in.
The student who tested positive belongs to the same fraternity as one of the three UMaine undergraduate students who tested positive last week, University of Maine System spokesperson Dan Demeritt said.
All eight members of the fraternity were quarantining as of Friday, when the university learned of the first positive case in the fraternity, Dean of Students Robert Dana said last week.
In addition to the four students at the flagship UMaine campus in Orono who have tested positive, the university system said Monday that a University of Maine School of Law student who recently returned from out of state had tested positive
As students prepare for the fall semester to begin next week, Maine’s seven public universities are testing all students living in residence halls and all those coming to Maine from out of state for COVID-19. In addition, the universities will conduct random testing of about 2,000 students and employees every 10 days throughout the portion of the semester students remain on campus.
So far, the university system has conducted 1,400 coronavirus tests as part of its testing program with ConvenientMD and The Jackson Laboratory. All returning residential students are told to quarantine until they receive a negative test result.
With students returning to campus for the fall semester, Maine colleges have announced plans to test many or all of their students multiple times throughout the semester. At Colby College in Waterville, three students tested positive as part of the college’s testing program, the college said this week.
The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention is investigating the university system and Colby College cases, the agency’s director, Nirav Shah, said.