Keene State College reported an “uptick” in cases this past week, with cases going from 7 last week to 21 cases as of Friday, November 5.
An email sent to KSC students, faculty and staff stated, “This is consistent with trends from previous semesters.”
The email also stated, “Operational response will remain unchanged as we continue to monitor data. If case rates continue to increase, operational response may be altered to include additional risk mitigation measures… Increased surveillance testing for potentially at-risk residential areas and identified contacts will continue (as mentioned in previous communications).”
The email said that contact tracing suggests that many of the cases are the results of high-risk, off-campus behaviors.
Also according to the email, all KSC faculty, staff and students who are fully vaccinated meet the minimal requirement for a booster shot, due to the nature of living or working on a college campus.
The email makes clear that KSC is not seeing evidence of classroom transmission, so classes will still be offered in-person for the remainder of the semester and students should plan to return to in-person learning following Thanksgiving break.
On Monday, November 8, the COVID dashboard was updated, revealing 24 new student positive cases and 3 new employee positive cases. KSC is still operating under Yellow/Orange Status.
The updated chart brings the total active cases this semester to 103 across campus.
The trigger point matrix, also updated on November 8 shows the vaccination rate of 72% among students and faculty.
Tom Benoit can be contacted at
