Does Cal Poly really have the state’s second-highest number of college COVID cases?

San Luis Obispo County may have ended up in the dreaded purple tier — the most restrictive in the state’s color-coded system — with or without Cal Poly.

But there’s no getting around the fact that university students have significantly added to the COVID-19 case load.

As of Tuesday, Cal Poly had reported a total of 833 cases, which includes students living both on- and off-campus who’ve been tested through the university.

How does that compare to other campuses?

Unfortunately, it’s tough to say.

According to The New York Times — which has been tracking COVID-19 cases at major universities throughout the nation — as of last week Poly had the second-highest number of cases in the state.

Cal Poly was reporting 626 cases at that point in time. Only San Diego State, which as of last week had reported 1,450 cases, had more.

However, because colleges differ in how they track cases, that may not be a complete picture. As the New York Times points out, “colleges are making their own rules for how to tally infections.”

It also cautions against comparing schools.

So does Cal Poly spokesman Matt Lazier: “It’s not clear to me how we would compare to other universities, in terms of how they are collecting and reflecting those numbers,” he said via email.

Which students are included?

One issue: Some counts do not include students who live off-campus.

UCSB, for instance, had only 33 cases, according to the New York Times count.

Unlike Cal Poly, UCSB is offering almost all courses on line and has asked students to stay home. No students are living in residence halls.

But the nearby community of Isla Vista — which in normal times is heavily populated by students — had 501, according to Santa Barbara County Health.

It’s unclear how many of those 501 cases are tied to the university.

“We have limited information regarding cases in Isla Vista — privacy restrictions limit the Santa Barbara County Public Health Department’s notification to campus officials about cases that occur in any off-campus location,” Andrea Estrada, UCSB’s director of news and media relations, said in an email.

But UCSB has acknowledged that students living off-campus may be contributing to the case count.

“... We are extremely concerned that COVID-19 may be spreading rapidly throughout Isla Vista and not just in sororities and fraternities,” university administrators wrote in an Oct. 20 email to students. “As you might imagine, there is a large amount of community outrage about this situation, and the focus has been on university students.”

It shouldn’t be that difficult for all of California’s public universities to get on the same page when it comes to tracking and reporting COVID-19 cases.

Otherwise, we’re comparing apples and oranges — not a good practice when dealing with a deadly pandemic.

Uniform data would make it possible to easily identify which universities are doing the best job of keeping case counts low, and which need to step it up.

Even without that information, though, Cal Poly is one of the hot spots among California campuses.

The university is planning to boost surveillance when students return in early January. It will switch to saliva tests, which will allow it to do more testing, and it will monitor wastewater for COVID-19 markers.

If those steps can’t keep the situation under control, it’s time for more extreme measures — such as reducing the number of students living on campus and/or even canceling in-person classes until there’s a vaccine, although it would be unfortunate for students to lose hands-on education when the infections themselves are likely occurring not in the classroom, but in off-campus social settings.

Opportunity for a reset

In the meantime, with fall quarter wrapping up, thousands of students are heading home for winter break.

SLO County residents have a chance to beat back the virus and, hopefully, get back into the less restrictive red tier that will allow businesses like gyms and restaurants to resume limited indoor operations.

If the rates continue to spike even without students around, we’ll have only ourselves to blame.

So don’t blow it.

If you have company over for the holidays, please be cautious.

The weather on Thanksgiving Day is expected to be in the low to mid-60s. The same for Friday and Saturday.

If you’re going to socialize with guests outside your household, do it OUTSIDE.

We’ll say it again: OUTSIDE. (Yes, we’re shouting.)

Haul the dining room table out to the driveway. It it’s too chilly, put on a sweater. Drag out the Uggs.

We know people are much less likely to become infected when they’re outside — but it’s still possible. So maintain distancing of at least 6 feet and wear a mask when you’re not eating or drinking.

And do Black Friday shopping the safest way: online.

It doesn’t have to be Amazon. You can still help out local businesses through online ordering and curbside pickup.

One more note about shopping: Some businesses have been holding special events like open houses.

Please stop. It makes far more sense to stagger visits from customers, especially since retail stores are now limited to 25% occupancy.

We all want to get into the holiday spirit, but we also want our loved ones around for the next holiday, right?

So whether you’re a Cal Poly student heading home for the holidays or a longtime resident hunkering down at home, remember to stay safe, and have a happy Thanksgiving.

This story was originally published November 25, 2020 at 5:30 AM with the headline "Does Cal Poly really have the state’s second-highest number of college COVID cases?."