Pitt officials confirm cases of UK variant on Oakland campus

PITTSBURGH — COVID-19 cases are continuing to spike on the University of Pittsburgh’s Oakland campus after “two consecutive weekends where students gathered in large numbers.”

University officials said they are anticipating cases to continue increasing, because cases are rising in the wider community and there is “low compliance off campus.”

“It’s really concerning that people still went out and, like, celebrated St. Patrick’s Day in big groups. But hopefully we can recover from this because there’s no more major spring holidays and everyone can really hunker down. And if they went out, get tested so we can get those numbers in and hopefully from this point on everyone is more responsible,” Azariah Torain, a Pitt freshman, said.

Cases of the U.K. variant of the coronavirus have also been confirmed on campus. Disease experts said this variant can spread easier.

Additionally, the school has received a limited number of doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. The 500 doses from the Pennsylvania Department of Health will go to members of the university’s custodial, food service, security and transportation departments. A small number of the doses are also being made available to members of the neighboring community.

If a student feels they may have been exposed over the weekend, they’re asked to get tested at Posvar Hall on Thursday or Friday.

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