Campus Focus

JACKSON, Miss. (WCBI) – As college campuses begin to look more like college campuses, state health administrators are looking at ways to track potential positive cases of Covid19.

Right now, a positive test is attached to a person’s zip code.

So a Mississippi State student who tests positive in Oktibbeha County will likely be counted in their home county.

But this week Dr. Thomas Dobbs, the state’s top health officer, says the health department is looking at other ways to track positive cases on college campuses and plans to focus efforts on younger people.

“We are shifting the majority of our case investigations and contact tracing resources to students in K-12 and college because we know this is such a vulnerability. We want to make sure we can do more in depth investigations around those kids, teenagers and young adults,” said Dobbs.

Dobbs says one option they are reviewing is to attach the student’s test results to the zip code of the clinic where he or she receives the Covid test.