Sept. 1, 2020

FLORENCE, AL - The University of North Alabama has relaunched its COVID-19 data page at www.una.edu/reopening/coviddashboard.html as a means to report ongoing information related to active cases on campus. The University began the Fall 2020 semester with a blend of in-person courses as well as those taught remotely and online.

"The data in the dashboard includes weekly updates on the number of positive cases, weekly trends, percent positive rates of sentinel testing, and cumulative positive cases since Aug. 19 when students returned to campus," said Dr. Kimberly Greenway, Vice President for Student Affairs and Chair of the Covid-19 Recovery Task Force. "The goal is to provide data that's reliable and helps inform the community."

UNA will begin sentinel testing during the week of Sept. 7. It is a continuation of the Testing Alabama Initiative and is provided for individuals within the University community who are asymptomatic in order to identify potential spread of the virus on campus.

"UNA has worked closely with the University of Alabama at Birmingham to offer this testing," she said. "It will allow us to continue to measure the ongoing health and well-being of the campus community as we move through the semester. UAB, as the state's leading research institution, has been a good partner with us as well as other four-year colleges and universities in Alabama."

The University had been reporting COVID-positive cases until Aug. 11; the data was removed in order to ensure it was reliable and offered an accurate picture of the virus on campus. In addition to the revised reporting structure, UNA has also required that all students, faculty, staff, and visitors to campus wear a cloth face covering, maintain at least six feet of physical distance from others, and practice good hand hygiene as ongoing efforts to promote overall safety and well- being.

About The University of North Alabama

The University of North Alabama is an accredited, comprehensive regional state university offering undergraduate and graduate degree programs through the colleges of Arts and Sciences, Business, Education and Human Sciences, and the Anderson College of Nursing and Health

Professions. Occupying a 130-acre campus in a residential section of Florence, Alabama, UNA is located within a four-city area that also includes Muscle Shoals, Sheffield, and Tuscumbia. UNA Athletics, a renowned collegiate athletics program with seven (7) Division II National Championships, is now a proud member of the NCAA Division I's ASUN Big South Conference. The University of North Alabama is an equal opportunity institution and does not discriminate in the admission policy on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, disability, age, or national origin. For more: www.una.edu and www.una.edu/unaworks/