Durham, North Carolina – In response to a COVID-19 outbreak on campus, Duke University on Saturday ordered all of its undergraduate students to stay in place until March 21.
“This action is necessary to contain the rapidly escalating number of COVID cases among Duke undergraduates, which is principally driven by students attending recruitment parties for selective living groups,” the school said in an announcement released on Saturday.
Over the past week more than 180 students were placed in isolation for testing positive for the coronavirus. An additional 200 students are in quarantine as a result of contact tracing.
“This is by far the largest one-week number of positive tests and quarantines since the start of the pandemic,” the announcement said.
The outbreak at Duke is a reminder that COVID-19 is still highly infectious and that outbreaks are still possible.
Most of Italy entered a new lockdown today, reports the New York Times. COVID-19 cases have risen there over the past three weeks.
Duke’s stay-in-place order means the following:
- All in-person courses including lab classes will shift to remote-only delivery.
- Undergraduates working in laboratories may not participate in laboratory activities this week.
- Students living in Duke-provided housing must remain in their residence hall room or apartment at all times except for essential activities related to food, health or safety.
- Students living off-campus in the Durham area are not permitted on campus, except to participate in surveillance testing, seek medical care at Student Health, or pick up grab-and-go food orders.
- Common spaces such as the Bryan Center, Brodhead Center, and other campus buildings will only be open to residential students for essential activities (for example, food or package pick up), and only during limited hours.
Violations of these restrictions will be considered a violation of the Duke Compact, and flagrant, repeated violations will be grounds for suspension or withdrawal from the university.
