DeKALB —  NIU announced Tuesday three additional students have tested positive for COVID-19, according to the Campus COVID-19 dashboard. As of Tuesday, six members of the NIU community tested positive for the coronavirus; one is an NIU employee and five are students. 

The number of students who tested positive for COVID-19 and were turned away from moving into residence halls isn’t on the dashboard now; they’re not on campus in residence halls, they’re isolating at home, Matt Streb, chief of staff to the president, said. 

NIU is in the process of calculating that number and it will be released, Streb said. 

As of Tuesday at 3:17 p.m., NIU is at 6% quarantine and isolation use, according to the dashboard. 

The quarantine and isolation percentage reflects the percentage of NIU monitored facilities being used to house individuals who test positive for the coronavirus, Streb said. NIU monitored facilities are residence halls or local hotels. 

If an individual tests positive for the coronavirus, they have the option to go home or be in an NIU monitored facility, Streb said. 

The DeKalb County Health Department notifies NIU when there’s a positive case affiliated with the university, Streb said. If a student or employee is tested for COVID-19 in another county, that county health department will contact NIU. 

Students who live in DeKalb and get a COVID-19 test in another county should use their DeKalb address, so there’s less of a delay in NIU receiving information, Streb said. 

“It’s important our students are practicing healthy and safe behaviors, we need them in masks and to be six feet apart,” Streb said.