By Tim Mastro

NEWARK — COVID-19 case rates throughout the state are declining; however, the University of Delaware is seeing its first major outbreak since students returned to campus for the spring semester.

UD reported 324 new positive cases for the week of Feb. 21-27 — up from 65 positives the week prior. Of the 324 cases, 322 were students and just two were employees.

In a message to the UD community, the university said, “This spike in COVID-19 cases is directly linked to the behavior of students in campus dining halls, in off-campus housing and in local bars and restaurants, where too many people are gathering without following health protocols.”

As of Thursday, and continuing until further notice, all campus dining halls and food courts are operating only on a grab-and-go basis. In the Trabant and Perkins student centers, students are required to use mobile ordering, and the occupancy of the centers is reduced to 25% of capacity.

No guests are permitted in residence halls, and students must adhere to capacity guidelines posted in the dormitories’ public spaces and lounges.

UD has about 3,900 students on campus this semester, compared to an estimated 1,300 in the fall. Unlike the fall, a negative test result was not required prior to the move-in date.

But all students living on campus are required to participate in UD’s COVID-19 testing program every week. Those living off-campus are also encouraged to be tested weekly through options provided by New Castle County and the Delaware Division of Public Health.

In comparison, Delaware State University in Dover has approximately 1,750 students living residentially this semester, with a little more than 25% of classes meeting face-to-face. Wesley College, meanwhile, only has 267 students living on its Dover campus this semester — down from the fall.

Wesley has reported a total of 61 positive cases between students, faculty and staff since Jan. 25.

Statewide, the DPH announced 286 new positives in Monday’s report and no new deaths. Since March 11, 2020, there have been 87,080 positive cases and 1,422 COVID-19-related deaths.

There were 151 individuals hospitalized with COVID-19 as of Sunday at 6 p.m., with 23 cases considered critical, according to the DPH.

Delaware has administered 220,616 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, with 52,209 doses remaining as of Sunday at 11:59 p.m., according to information in the state’s immunization data system, DelVAX. The state expects another shipment of vaccine early this week and hopes to receive about 8,000 doses of the recently approved Johnson & Johnson one-dose vaccine by the end of the week.

Maryland has been allocated nearly 50,000 doses of the J&J vaccine, Gov. Larry Hogan said Monday, according to reporting by The Associated Press. About 49,600 doses of that vaccine will be deployed to Maryland providers this week.

“Our plan is to get this vaccine into the community right away and right into arms so that we can continue increasing our vaccination rate,” Gov. Hogan said in a statement.

Maryland health officials will direct the J&J vaccine allocation to mass-vaccination sites, hospitals, local health departments and community health centers. In addition, the J&J vaccine will be deployed to pharmacies that the federal government has selected to participate in its retail pharmacy partnership.

The Hogan administration said the federal government has stated that future allocations of the J&J vaccine could be uneven and could be smaller than this week’s shipment.