WestConn bans students from residence halls
2-week stay away order issued in response to spike in Danbury COVID-19 cases
DANBURY — No students will be allowed to return to Western Connecticut State University residence halls as for at least two weeks after a recent spike in COVID-19 cases in the city, university President John Clark said Saturday.
The decision came less than 24 hours after the state issued a “COVID-19 alert” for the city. Earlier Saturday afternoon, Western Connecticut State University said it would look into what changes might be needed to keep students and staff safe.
The state Department of Public Health issued the alert for the city Friday night, urging Danbury residents to stay home, avoid unnecessary outings, limit indoor gatherings to only those you live with and avoid attending church services.
Close to 2,300 city residents have had the virus since March. Danbury reported 44 more cases Friday.
The seven-day average of new cases went from 2.3 during the week of July 19 to 8.4 last week, according to Kara Prunty, the acting director of health for Danbury.
“While there is no evidence that these cases have any relationship to campus, out of an abundance of caution, we are investigating what changes we might make in protocols for residential and commuter students,” the university said in a brief post Saturday afternoon.
Soon after, Clark released a statement that said no students would be allowed to return to residence halls on campus for two weeks as of Saturday. Students who have already moved in are the only exceptions and must remain on campus for the next two weeks, he said.
All classes will start online only on Aug. 26 as planned. Clark said the university hopes to return to the original schedule as soon as it’s safe to do so.
“We understand that delaying the campus experience is inconvenient and disappointing to students and their families, but it is our responsibility to follow state recommendations to keep our students, faculty and staff as safe as possible while doing our part to prevent community spread,” Clark said.
This is just the latest impact of the virus on the city.
On Monday, officials canceled youth sports leagues in Danbury after youth sports, as well as travel and family barbecues, were linked to a recent increase in cases in the city.
Friday’s alert was issued by the state Department of Public Health after what officials said was a significant spike in cases over the last two weeks, with most of the outbreak involving Danbury residents’ recent travel — domestic and international.
“This is a serious outbreak in Danbury and we really need an all-handson-deck approach to keeping the community extra socially distanced in the near future. We need everyone in Danbury to take extreme precaution,” Deidre Gifford, acting commissioner of the state Department of Public Health, said in a statement Friday.