NEW BRITAIN, Conn. (WCBS 880) — A dozen college students tested positive for coronavirus on Wednesday at the University of Connecticut hours after the leaders of the state's public and private universities declared their schools ready to reopen.
The school found 12 cases in Garrigus Suites after testing all of the approximately 270 students who live in that residence hall. All have been moved to isolation, according to the school.
UConn has now reported around 40 cases since students arrived back on campus earlier this month – bringing the school’s infection rate to 0.76%, which is classified as very low. Everyone living in the dorms will be tested for the virus again in the upcoming days.
The news came just hours after school officials joined leaders from the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities system, the Connecticut Conference of Independent Colleges and Gov. Ned Lamont in announcing their plans for in-person, remote, and hybrid learning this fall.
In the meeting, Connecticut state college officials said their schools would be safe this semester with students being regularly tested for the virus and mandates ensuring students will wear masks at all times in public spaces.
“I believe, very strongly, that the students from Connecticut and those who come into Connecticut, will rise to the occasion and prove all of those naysayers wrong,” said Mark Ojakian, the president of the Connecticut State Colleges Universities system. “That they will wear masks, that they will physically distance where they need to physically distance, where they will not gather in groups.”
He says students will follow the rules because they don’t want to go home and do remote learning.
All Connecticut colleges have adopted strict guidelines for allowing students back on campus. Those include requiring students coming from states with high infection rates to have a negative test result before being allowed on campus. They must get another test when they arrive and quarantine for two weeks on campus before getting a third test.
College officials say anyone who tests positive will be moved into isolation, such as the students who tested positive at UConn on Wednesday.
Some students who do not obey rules may also face eviction from on-campus housing. Recently, a group of students were evicted at UConn after throwing a party in a dorm room.
Gov. Lamont said the state will be monitoring the reopenings closely and is prepared to shut schools down again, should the infection rates begin to spike.
“Look, I don't want to be ‘Governor Killjoy’ and that was not my nickname when I was in college,” Lamont said. “But I also know that we're going to have to work hard to keep our colleges open safely.”