Wexford campus in temporary shutdown last Friday
THE Wexford Campus of IT Carlow was forced to temporarily shut down on Friday amid concerns over the spread of the coronavirus. Head of Centre at the Wexford Campus Dr Karen Hennessy confirmed that the college had suspended classes as a ‘precautionary measure’ after it emerged that a family member belonging to a student had been diagnosed with Covid-19 the night before.
‘We understand that the family is currently in self-isolation,’ Dr Hennessy said, while re-affirming that there have been ‘no reported cases of Institute staff or students being diagnosed’ with the potentially deadly virus.
‘Given the development involving the family member of one of our students, HSE guidelines on disinfection/cleaning are being followed,’ Dr Hennessy said. ‘ This is in addition to the increased disinfection/cleaning regime previously introduced as part of the ongoing containment effort. We continue to ask staff and students to follow HSE guidelines with regard to personal hygiene.’
Any students displaying symptoms of Covid-19 are being asked to follow HSE guidelines, self-isolate and contact medical personnel.
Should this arise, the affected parties are asked to contact the campus office.
Dr Hennessy said that the Institute’s Emergency Response Team is continuing to monitor developments, however, following a deep clean of the building, classes resumed as normal yesterday (Monday).
While the closure of the campus has sparked great concern and speculation locally over the location of the family affected, Dr Hennessy said that no information would be released as to where the student or their family are based.
‘I have no idea where they are from, this is not information that we wish to pursue,’ she said. ‘Please Be clear though, to date no member of the campus community has been diagnosed with coronavirus.’