One week ago, the reported number of positive COVID-19 cases according to Wake’s dashboard was 54. As of yesterday, Sept. 16, that number has increased to 103, a 90.7% increase in one week. This increased number of positive cases follows the launch of Wake Forest’s random testing program, which started during the week of Aug. 31st, testing approximately 500 random students weekly. Vice President for Campus Life Penny Rue discussed with the Old Gold & Black the recent increase of COVID-19 cases among the university community, as well as the circumstances might cause the Wake Forest campus to shift from the “yellow zone” to the Orange color status. “From the experience at other campuses, the reasons schools have gone into a more restricted status arise from superspreader events where asymptomatic individuals spread the virus — knowingly or unknowingly — to such a large number of contacts that it becomes impossible to perform contact tracing in a timely manner,” Rue said. Click the link in our bio to read more from Jessica Mark (‘23).