Residents on the second floor of Aquinas Hall will no longer have to quarantine, Housing and Residence Life (HRL) said in an email to residents Thursday.
The floor was ordered to quarantined on Monday after two residents tested positive within a week. HRL staff informed residents on Monday that they would be allowed to leave their rooms only to be tested for COVID-19 by Health Services.
Residents can also now leave their rooms freely and will no longer have food delivered to them.
“The quarantine of the second floor of Aquinas Hall is ended effective immediately,” the email said. “We thank everyone, most of all our resident students, for their cooperation and patience as we worked through this serious health situation.”
Since Monday, when testing of second-floor residents began, the University has reported 34 new cases, at least 21 of which were resident students. It is not clear how many of these cases were detected on the second floor of Aquinas.
The University has not said how many of the cases were asymptomatic nor have they estimated the risk of spread within the campus community.
“All COVID-19 test results for students on this floor have been received,” HRL said. “Any student who tested positive has been contacted by Health Services, as have identified close contacts. Students may check their Student Health Portal for confirmation of their test results.”
The quarantine was one of several recent steps taken by the University after an uptick in COVID-19 cases on campus, which included transitioning all classes to remote learning for the remainder of the semester and converting Serra Hall into additional quarantine housing.
Daniel O’Connor can be reached at daniel.oconnor1@student.shu.edu. Find him on Twitter @itsDanOConnor.
