In the waning weeks of the fall semester, Queen’s is seeing an uptick in COVID-19 cases, many of which are associated with recent off-campus house parties.

Kingston, Frontenac and Lennox & Addington (KFL&A) Public Health reported on Thursday that 52 of the 104 active cases in the community have been traced to recent off-campus house parties.

On Tuesday, Dr. Kieran Moore, Medical Officer of Health at KFL&A, confirmed several individuals who tested positive attended house parties on Dec. 11 and 12 within the University District. In a video published Thursday, Moore said he expects the numbers to drop soon as students head home for winter break.

The University’s COVID-19 tracker is currently reporting 44 active cases, all of which are attributed to students off-campus.

Of the KFL&A region’s 104 active cases, one person has been hospitalized in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). The region is seeing 1.2 per cent of tests turn positive, lower than Ontario’s current four per cent positivity rate.

READ MORE: Some international students at Queen’s face a winter break away from home

The Queen’s Satellite testing centre has closed for the semester, but will re-open for regular hours on Jan. 10.

Students can get tested at the Kingston community Beechgrove location, which is open daily from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Appointments at this location must be booked online. KFL&A will not be updating its COVID-19 dashboard from Dec. 24 to 28 and Dec. 31 to Jan. 3, 2021.

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