With Thanksgiving break on the horizon, some colleges and universities in the Boston area are seeing a spike in coronavirus cases on their campuses.
The COVID-19 dashboards for Boston University, MIT and Northeastern University have shown recent rises in the number of cases on campus.
MIT reported 65 positive tests in the first 13 days of November after reporting 46 in the entire month of October and 30 in September.
Northeastern had 68 cases in the first 11 days of November after reporting 73 cases in the entire month of October.
BU, meanwhile, on Tuesday broke its previous record for most cases reported in a day on Nov. 10 with 15 positive tests. The previous record was set on Nov. 4 with 11 cases.
MIT currently has 61 students in isolation and 78 students in quarantine, while Northeastern has 54 students in isolation and 163 students in quarantine. Sixty-six BU students are in isolation.
In a letter to students, BU Dean of Students Kenneth Elmore highlighted the severity of the situation and importance of limiting travel and contact with others.
"If you are an on-campus resident and found in violation of the stay-in-place advisory, access to your residence, campus dining, Wi-Fi and online/in-person course access will be suspended," Elmore wrote.
"Long story, short. Stay here or stay where you are now rather than going away – even around the corner – for the break," he added. "It’s the wise choice."
As a result of some of the cases at MIT being traced back to students at the Sloan School of Management, the school decided to suspend in-person classes for first-year MBA students.
Cecilia Stuopis, MIT's medical director, addressed the uptick in cases in a letter to community members this week.
"Don’t assume you are fine just because you are being tested regularly," Stuopis wrote. "Remember that testing doesn’t mean you are free of Covid-19. It is a snapshot that tells us whether you had enough Covid-19 virus in your system to test positive at the moment you took the test."
