Five students and four Auburn University employees have tested positive for COVID-19, and of those, one student and two employees have been hospitalized, according to Fred Kam, medical director for the Auburn University Medical Clinic.

There are also an additional five employees who have presumptive positive cases because they have symptoms and their household members are already known to be positive for the disease, according to Kam.

The positive COVID-19 test results for Auburn students are “all related to travel during spring break,” Kam said in an email to The Plainsman.

Kam also said that based on what the clinic has seen throughout the pandemic, they have “a sense that students who are in town are getting together in groups, usually in the evening.”

“Even though it is less than ten people, they are usually not socially distancing,” Kam said.

As for the University employees with COVID-19, almost all “have not been on campus” and none of them have been determined to have “been of imminent danger to anyone else,” Kam said. 

Kam said all of the employees who have COVID-19 contracted the disease through community spread, which means the “source of infection is unknown,” according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The University's medical clinic is hearing from a lot of people who are anxious and worried they have COVID-19, according to Kam.

“Some people with respiratory symptoms are anxious and understandably so,” Kam said.

Kam said people can call 334-844-9825 to be screened over the phone for COVID-19. But not everyone who calls, he said, “will get nor needs to be tested for COVID-19.”

As of Tuesday afternoon, the medical clinic has completed over 100 tests and are awaiting more results, according to Kam.

The outdoor COVID-19 testing tent near the med clinic will be moved on Wednesday to the first floor of the parking deck at the corner of Lem Morrison and Duncan Drive because of the heat and rain, Kam said.

“With Easter weekend coming, everyone needs to adhere to the 'stay at home' requirement or risk contracting and spreading the virus,” Kam said.