After 13 more coronavirus cases, UConn warns students to be careful during holiday

After recording 13 more cases of COVID-19, UConn officials warned students Saturday to maintain social distance over Labor Day weekend.

“Today is a beautiful day. I want you to enjoy it,” wrote Eleanor J.B. Daugherty, UConn’s dean of students, in a message to the university community. “But we must not relax the universal precautions that we know keep our community safe: wear a mask, stay with your family unit, maintain physical distance, and remain on campus this weekend.”

According to Daugherty’s note, campus police responded to two “off-campus gatherings” Friday night.

“The vast majority of our students are being careful and following health guidelines,” Daugherty wrote. “However, those who aren’t are getting sick or getting others sick.”

Daugherty said most of the 13 new cases were students who were already in quarantine after having contact with an infected student, which she called “a good indication of the success of contact tracing.”

With the latest round of positive tests, UConn has now recorded 130 cases among students on its Storrs campus, including 95 who live on campus and 35 who live off campus. Additionally, the school has discovered four cases among students who attend its Stamford campus and two among those who attend its Hartford campus.

UConn has 245 isolation beds on its Storrs campus, of which 71 are currently in use. No students have been hospitalized with COVID-19, a spokesperson said

Saturday.

Colleges nationwide have struggled to contain the coronavirus, with schools, including Notre Dame and the University of North Carolina, opting to shut down and shift classes online.

UConn has not identified a specific number of cases that would trigger a shift to onlineonly classes, promising only to weigh the prevalence of the disease and the school’s ability to treat infected students.