The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
College students told to avoid travel, gatherings
FAIRFIELD — Students at Sacred Heart University are being asked to avoid nonessential travel offcampus, while Fairfield University told students not to attend Halloween-related gatherings on or off campus.
That guidance comes as Fairfield was placed on the state’s list of red alert zones last week amid rising cases of COVID-19.
Fairfield U. officials admitted cases among the university community contributed to the rise.
“There is no question that the surge that we experienced in our campus community contributed to this, although it is not the only factor,” Dean of Students William Johnson wrote in a message to the community. “The state of Connecticut and other states in our region are also seeing increased positivity rates.”
As of Monday, Fairfield University reported four new cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by coronavirus, among its student population.
The university reported 32 active cases — two of them among faculty and staff, and nine among students living on campus.
Johnson said students
can participate in schoolsponsored Halloween events or celebrate with roommates.
“Do not let Halloween weekend ruin what is left of this semester,” he wrote in the message, sent Friday.
That same day, SHU
officials said students should avoid off-campus travel as a result of the state designating Fairfield a red-alert zone.
“The town is also encouraging the cancellation of any large gatherings and has already canceled all
town-sponsored public events,” the school’s coronavirus planning team wrote. “The primary means of transmission seems to be from small gatherings where people are letting their guard down by taking off their masks and coming too close to one another.”
As of Monday, SHU reported seven new cases from the previous day’s testing — three among students on-campus, three among students off-campus, and one among employees.
The university reported 76 active cases of COVID-19, split almost evenly between students living on and off-campus with two cases among employees.
The University of Hartford in West Hartford reported 18 new cases last week — the same number of active cases currently.
The University of Connecticut reported one new case Tuesday among students living off campus near Storrs. Fourteen students are currently in isolation on campus after testing positive or showing symptoms of the disease.
Central Connecticut State University in New Britain reported one new case among faculty and staff as of Monday. Four people there were in quarantine and one was in isolation as of Monday, the school’s data shows.
Quinnipiac University reported 22 new cases last week, with 19 active cases. The university has recorded 48 cases in total this semester.
“Our model would have predicted 117, so we’ve done better,” said Dr. David Hill, the university’s senior medical adviser for COVID-19. “We’re seeing most of this in small groups off-campus and they’re related to probably social interaction.”