ASU bans travel to China
Arizona State University bans travel to China for all university students, faculty and staff two days after a case of the new coronavirus is confirmed in the ASU community.
Just two days after a case of the new coronavirus was confirmed in the Arizona State University community, the university announced travel to China for all university students, faculty and staff is banned effective immediately.
ASU President Michael Crow shared a link to an announcement on the ASU website that the university “has issued a travel restriction to China for all university faculty, staff and students, effective immediately.”
“No institution-related travel, such as study abroad or other academic program visits, to China will be authorized or approved by the university. This travel restriction is similar to restrictions many businesses and organizations across the U.S. have implemented,” the rest of the advisory says.
Jerry Gonzalez, an ASU spokesman, told The Arizona Republic that the policy did not apply to personal travel.
This decision immediately follows a recommendation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that travelers should avoid all “nonessential travel to China.”
Since the initial announcement that a member of the ASU community has the novel coronavirus, employees at stores near campus told other outlets that they were running out of face masks, hand sanitizer and disinfectant wipes. The supply shortage along with the lack of information regarding the infected person’s whereabouts have upset some students.
In response, three ASU students created a petition to cancel class until proper disinfection measures were taken and, as of Tuesday afternoon, the petition had more than 20,000 signatures.
“Students just want to know more information about this virus before going on campus,” the petition said. “We do not want to risk our lives by attending class.”
The petition’s creator, ASU freshman Taskina Bhuiyan, updated the petition’s mission statement Tuesday morning, saying the media was misrepresenting her intent — it is not just to cancel class, but to start a “conversation about preventative measures.”
“Without us making our voices heard, ASU will continue to be ambiguous and fail to provide us with the transparency needed in order to make more informed decisions about our health,” Bhuiyan said on change.org.
The petition was previously denied by the university in a campus-wide email on Monday noting that the person diagnosed with the novel coronavirus does not live on campus and the risk to the public is believed to be low.
The case, which was confirmed Sunday, involves a member of the Arizona State University community who is under age 60 and does not have underlying health conditions, said Dr. Rebecca Sunenshine, medical director for disease control at the Maricopa County Department of Public Health.
The person is “mildly ill,” does not live in university housing, and is in isolation, officials said.
Rumors have circulated online regarding where the infected person might reside.
Chris Minnick, a spokesman for the Arizona Department of Health Services, cautioned against attempting to identify where the infected person lives.
“The last thing we want is to put somebody’s confidentiality in jeopardy,” Minnick told The Republic.
Minnick added that the agency was working to contact everyone who had direct contact with the infected person.