CHAMPAIGN — While Champaign County saw its largest ever daily bump in COVID-19 cases Monday, there’s no reason to panic, according to Champaign-Urbana Public Health District Administrator Julie Pryde.

Many of the county’s 68 new cases reported Monday from the previous day were from tests done on students returning to the University of Illinois campus for the fall semester.

“This is not community spread,” Pryde said.

According to UI campus testing data, there were 263 positive cases in the five days from Wednesday through Sunday, with the average rolling positivity rate for the most recent five days being 0.74 percent.

New cases from campus testing for the five days included 30 cases Wednesday, 59 cases Thursday, 65 cases Friday, 50 cases Saturday and 59 cases Sunday.

The bump in cases linked to students returning to campus was expected, Pryde said.

“We knew this was coming. We were ready for it, the university and us,” she said.

There may have been fewer newly-arriving students testing positive if there had been fewer going-away parties before the students left for Champaign-Urbana, Pryde said.

The good news is that students have been tested when they arrived and those testing positive have been placed in isolation, she said.

Pryde also said students testing positive have been individual cases that haven’t been linked to outbreaks.

Follow-ups have also been done with the students’ close contacts, she said. In some cases, contacts were traced with help from public health departments in the students’ home communities, where some students were likely infected before they arrived at the UI.

Infected students, and anyone else who tests positive, is placed in isolation and, in theory, should not be out in the public infecting others, Pryde said.

Time will tell in upcoming days.

The UI’s student party patrol had a busy weekend, with several parties that were larger than are currently permitted in Champaign-Urbana, according to UI Police Lt. Matt Ballinger.

Police response for these first offenses was to educate the offenders, he said.

Emergency orders that are in effect in the campus area and at apartments across Champaign-Urbana currently limit parties to a maximum of 10 people plus the hosts and others who live at the home.

“This first weekend really was a lot about education and making sure students were aware of what the rules are,” said Champaign Mayor Deb Feinen.

Local officials are less concerned about being to fine the offenders than the ability to issue violation tickets that can be shared with the university for disciplinary action against the offending students, she said.

In all of Champaign County as of Monday, 236 of the county’s 1,975 cases to date were considered to be active.

Four dozen of the active cases were added Monday in the central Champaign 61820 zip code area, which accounted for 135 of the county’s total active cases.