The University’s undergraduate positivity rate increased 2.13 percent from last week, which saw a positivity rate of 2.79 percent. BC also reported a non-undergraduate positivity rate of 1.93 percent, with 29 cases out of 1,501 tests. 

The previous record for highest number of COVID-19 cases on campus was set during pre-semester testing—from Jan. 10 to 17—when 330 undergraduate students tested positive out of 7,305 tests, a positivity rate of 4.52 percent. 

Amid a nationwide surge of the Omicron variant, BC announced updated spring semester COVID-19 restrictions in early January, including a temporary mask mandate and heightened penalties for testing noncompliance. 

The temporary mask mandate required that all members of the BC community wear a mask on campus “wherever physical distancing cannot be maintained.” This mandate, which was announced during Winter Break, expired on Tuesday.

Barring any changes to the University’s current COVID-19 policy, BC will be one of the only colleges in the Boston area to not have an indoor mask mandate on campus.

Though BC’s cases rose again this past week, Massachusetts’ seven-day positivity rate has been decreasing since Jan. 11, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Featured Image by Steve Mooney / Heights Editor