University of Missouri promises daily COVID-19 updates; petitioners call for more data
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
The University of Missouri announced Monday that it will begin updating campus COVID-19 numbers daily moving forward.
The move comes soon after a petition was started calling on UM System and MU leadership to increase transparency, testing and online instruction as COVID-19 numbers continue a historic climb in Boone Country.
The petition from the group COVID Safety for MU has more than 750 signatures from students, faculty, staff and community members not affiliated with MU.
They are calling for the classes to be moved fully online for the fall semester.
The petition also asks for the university to invest in surveillance testing, be more transparent with COVID-19 data and publish a dashboard that is similar to the one used by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Classes began last Monday and the University of Missouri began posting student COVID-19 numbers Wednesday. MU updated those numbers Friday, as well.
The school provided another update Monday, promising daily updates from now on.
According to the MU Renewal site, MU has 415 active student cases of COVID-19, an increase of 109 compared to Friday.
New infections in the college-age population have powered a surge in local case numbers that has broken multiple records for new daily cases. The current record is 131 cases, reported Saturday.
The Boone County health department reported 85 new cases of the coronavirus Sunday. According to the Boone County COVID-19 Information Hub, 59 of the new cases Sunday came from the 18-22 age group.
The petition’s organizers also called on the Columbia Mayor Brian Treece to stand with the MU community and area residents who wish to stop the spread of COVID-19 in the community.
The organizers also said MU leaders have begun to publicly address some of the demands but they found those responses to be insufficient.
