According to what has been published on the website of the UAB, the Department of Health reported last week the detection of an outbreak of COVID-19 among residents of the Vila Universitària of the UAB. A screening of cohabitants and other close contacts of the first affected people was carried out with the result of 31 positive cases. On 25 and 26 February, the health authorities organised a screening of all residents of the Vila Universitària with the aim of detecting asymptomatic cases of COVID-19 in order to break the chain of transmission as soon as possible. The initiative was coordinated by the Catalan Health Service and Epidemiological Surveillance, with an operation managed by the Primary Care of the Metropolitan North, of the ICS, and with the collaboration of the Vila Universitària.
Of the 1,400 possible residents (not all residents were present these days), 998 people underwent PCR with a result of 13 positives, 1.3% of those screened. The final number of positive cases was therefore 44. All those affected have mild symptoms or are directly asymptomatic. Vila Universitaria applied the protocol designed in case of detection of positive cases and isolated both the positives and their close contacts in flats reserved for this purpose.
The UAB has opened an informative dossier to clarify whether there was a breach of the safety regulations established by the health authorities, by the student residence and by the university itself and, if so, to take, if so, the sanctioning measures foreseen for this purpose.
The UAB thanks the Epidemiological Surveillance Service and the staff of the Vila Universitària for their dedication and professionalism and the residents for their willingness and responsibility in making the screening an organisational success.
As Rector Javier Lafuente said in his letter to the university community on 25 February, the UAB is “a safe space and must continue to be so. The Governing Team, together with the whole administration, is working to guarantee this” and it is necessary that “we maintain strict rules of behaviour to guarantee our safety and collective security”.