College shifts to orange alert

Classes, sports at Connecticut College canceled Wednesday because of COVID-19

Classes and athletic activities at Connecticut College were canceled Wednesday after more than 50 students tested positive for COVID-19, the New London school said.

According to an email to the school community, a group of students experiencing symptoms were tested, along with their friends, with 20 cases identified.

“Through contact tracing, we determined that the students who had contracted the virus had been socializing in cars, in friends’ rooms or apartments, at parties or in bars without wearing a mask,” the email said.

An additional 34 students tested positive during a broad PCR test, prompting the college to shift from a Level 1, or green alert, to a Level 3, or orange alert — the second highest.

Students at the college are routinely tested for the coronavirus and were required to be fully vaccinated before returning to school in the fall; exemption for religious or medical reasons was allowed.

“This alert level indicates that on-campus operations must be reduced in response to a rising number of both positive tests and

potential exposures,” the school says on its website.

In addition to limiting on-campus activities, socializing indoors, traveling apart from urgent matters and use of common spaces is prohibited under the orange alert. Dining services are grab-and-go. Classes were canceled Wednesday as professors prepared to shift lessons online. Classes are to be held remotely for the next week to 10 days.

Those students who tested positive will be moved to isolation housing, the school said.

The most recent round of student testing showed a 5.99% positivity rate, according to the college’s COVID dashboard. This compares to the week of Aug. 30 to Sept. 5, when three students and two employees tested positive after 3,477 tests, for a positivity rate of .14%. For the week of Aug. 23-29, eight students and no staff tested positive in 1,892 tests for a .42% positivity rate.

Non-essential staff were given the option to work remotely.

“We ask that everyone who does come to campus be rigorous in following protocols on mask-wearing,” the college said.

Gilead Hill School, a Hebron school that teaches from kindergarten to second grade, also made the move to remote learning Wednesday, citing a “high number of quarantined students,” as the reason for distanced learning. The school is set to reopen for in-person instruction on Sept. 14.