COVID-19 cases continue to mount at UConn

STORRS — COVID-19 cases continued to mount at the University of Connecticut’s campus in Storrs, where the school reported 26 new cases Wednesday.

The university placed five residence halls under quarantine Tuesday, after recording 34 new cases— the highest one-day total UConn has seen so far.

Wednesday’s cases involved 13 students living on campus, 12 off campus, as well as one employee.

The school’s Stamford campus, where UConn officials have placed the residence hall under quarantine, reported no new cases.

The surge of new cases comes after several weeks of declining caseloads at UConn, as Connecticut health officials and several other colleges and universities throughout the state report a new wave of infections.

It also comes two weeks before the start of the Thanksgiving holiday.

UConn, like many schools in the state, plans to close residence halls for winter break. That prevents students from going home over Thanksgiving break and potentially returning to campuses with the virus.

“We’re doing everything we can to keep the colleges open until the Thanksgiving vacation when kids will be going home for probably a couple of months,” Gov. Ned Lamont said Monday. “What we’re doing around the rest of the state is just guidance, trying to tell people to stay close to home, especially if you’re older, especially after 10 o’clock at night.”

The state will also have to contend with students coming home to Connecticut, some of them from hotspot states, a concern the governor has previously raised.

Some students are already headed home.

At Sacred Heart University, which announced last week it would go to fullyonline learning amid rising infections, university officials have been giving students guidance on how to get tested and quarantine if they opt to leave campus early.

SHU officials reported eight new cases as of Tuesday, including three new infections among employees. The school’s active caseload stood at 212.

Fairfield University, nearby, has pushed most gatherings and activities outside of classes online.

Officials there reported 14 new cases as of Tuesday, with 155 active cases.

Both Sacred Heart and Fairfield universities are enforcing nightly curfews for students, after the governor recommended residents stay home past 10 p.m.

Quinnipiac University in Hamden reported 80 new cases since Monday. The school reported 321 active cases in isolation, bringing the cumulative number of positive tests for the semester to 422.