COVID-19 In Pittsburgh: Colleges Concerned About Surge In Cases Following Spring Break Travel
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - As vaccinations ramp up, more people are itching to get back to normal.
That means people are traveling and hosting get-togethers, which could lead to a spring surge in cases.
"We are getting ready to start Week 10 of our semester and that's four weeks left. And oh, boy, I'm ready for that," said Peyton Stuart, a junior at the University of Pittsburgh.
He said students in Oakland are ready for normalcy and large gatherings are happening.
"I can imagine kids are just tired in general. ... It's tough with online learning. You can get tired very easily," Stuart said.
According to Pitt's COVID-19 Medical Response Office, case numbers are rising on the main campus.
The university reported an 83 percent increase in positive cases last week with an average of 8.8 new cases a day.
"You can definitely see a lot more people are going out and partying. I'm an athlete, so I'm not one of those students and I've taken the precautions very seriously," said Pitt sophomore Mya Rivenburg.
Rivenburg told KDKA that she's hopeful these numbers are a wake-up call to her fellow classmates.
"We still have to be diligent with other people who aren't as fortunate to have access to the vaccine. And even if you get the vaccine, you can still carry COVID and spread it to other people," Rivenburg said.
Across the country, universities are seeing a rise in cases from spring breakers heading south, crowing beaches and partying maskless. This year, Pitt is doing two mental health days rather than a spring break. The first mental health day is Wednesday.
"I think putting them in the middle of the week was kind of pushing away from people leaving campus and going and having those big spring breaks, because you see it in Florida right now they are back in a state of emergency because of spring breakers," Rivenburg said.
Pitt completes contact tracing for every positive case if that person has been on campus within the last 14 days.
