Penn State reported 317 new COVID-19 cases among University Park students and employees this week, according to the university’s COVID-19 Dashboard.

Between Friday, March 19, and 3 p.m on Friday, March 26, the university administered 7,098 tests to students and employees. Three hundred and seventeen tests came back positive.

For the second straight week, Penn State’s reported figures for the seven-day period represented the largest spike in cases this semester. Penn State hadn’t reported as many or more COVID-19 cases in a week’s worth of dashboard updates since mid-November.

According to the university, a large but unclear number of reported positives this week came from East Halls residents. Since March 17, Penn State has asked residents of eight on-campus dorms, as well as Beaver Hill apartments residents, to get tested for COVID-19.

The university said it sends out advisories once local positivity rates in a given dorm or complex crack 2%.

Over the past week, Penn State’s total positivity rate for the semester (or since December 19) increased from 2.5% to 2.7%. About 3.9% of tests administered over the last seven days returned positive results.

One hundred and fifty-six students are currently isolating at Penn State’s Eastview Terrace complex, while 74 are quarantined there. The university is using up 58% of its 400-room capacity. Last Friday, just 46% of rooms were in use.

Penn State has administered 66,004 COVID-19 tests to students and employees this semester, resulting in 1,772 total positives.

Penn State’s COVID-19 Dashboard also incorporates figures from student-athlete testing and any tests taken by those who remained on campus over winter break.

Penn State plans on updating the newly unveiled dashboard three times a week throughout the semester on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. The university said testing data is added to the dashboard once results are received.

New features on the dashboard include an “All Campuses” button that shows testing statistics for Penn State’s entire network, calculations for positivity rates, and “enhanced” quarantine and isolation data.

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Editor’s Note: This semester, Onward State is publishing weekly COVID-19 Dashboard summaries. Feel free to check out our site on Friday afternoons for updates on Penn State’s COVID-19 testing figures, quarantine and isolation space capacity, and more.