Over 450 Colleges Are in Coronavirus Hot Spots

Cases of the novel coronavirus are spiking in counties in the southern and western regions of the United States, and these hot spots are home to about 450 colleges, some of whose leaders have recently signaled that they might modify their plans for the fall as cases rise.

“If I had to say today would we would reopen, no, because … the ICUs are full,” Robert C. Robbins, president of the University of Arizona, said late last month. “We cannot have a situation where we’re bringing students back to campus, asking our faculty and staff to come back to campus when we’re in truly an exponential growth of the number of cases here.”

The university is in Pima County, which, on July 7, had 29.7 new coronavirus cases per 100,000 people on a rolling seven-day average, according to a new interactive map and dashboard created by Harvard University researchers.Pima County is at a high risk level, which the researchers define as 25 or more new daily cases per 100,000 people.

Other high-risk counties with colleges include: Miami-Dade, Fla.; Charleston, S.C.; Maricopa, Ariz.; and Lubbock, Tex.

As unchecked community spread of Covid-19 continues in parts of the country, some colleges have altered plans to teach students face to face. The University of Southern California recently announced that it needed to dramatically reduce its density on campus by having its undergraduate students take courses primarily or exclusively online and limiting on-campus housing and activities.

Meanwhile, local and college leaders and public-health experts in other, less-hard-hit regions of the country have expressed concern that outbreaks among college students this summer will presage further spread of the disease when more students return in the fall.

The shaded counties on the map below are at a “tipping point,” as identified by Harvard’s researchers. Hover over the hot-spot counties to see which ones have colleges in them.