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NYU Dorm On Lockdown After Four Students Test Positive For COVID-19
By
David Cruz
Published Sep 14, 2020
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By
David Cruz
Published Sep 14, 2020
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Four NYU students have tested positive for COVID-19 just as the university begins ramping up screening protocols to help mitigate the spread of the virus.
The students were all residents of the freshman dorm Rubin Hall. NYU's student-run publication Washington Square News was the first to publish the news.
In an email sent by Dr. Carlo Ciotoli, NYU's head of the COVID-19 Prevention & Response Team, the school "is requiring all Rubin residents to quarantine until at least Tuesday," according to the publication. Students will learn that same day whether they'll be required to isolate even more.
The news comes two days after a pop-up party took place near the heart of NYU where hundreds of gatherers were spotted at Washington Square Park, the majority of whom were seen maskless. Gatherings of more than 50 people are still banned under New York City's coronavirus restrictions, though that hasn't stopped illicit parties from proliferating in secret.
On September 5th, at least 20 NYU students were suspended the same weekend as a party took place in the park, drawing scorn from Governor Andrew Cuomo, who faulted NYU for failing to step in to break it up. The number of students suspended has since increased to 30.
“That is not tough by the NYU administrators, who as soon as they heard it should have said, ‘Stop it,’” said Cuomo at a news conference last week. “Send the NYU security, break it down. It’s not tough by the New York City enforcement. They saw the large gathering, violation of social distancing — it wasn’t smart.”
It's not clear if any of the four students who tested positive attended the parties.
Students began returning to college campuses across New York State in late August. Current guidelines allow for in-person instruction with social distancing measures in place. But if a school surpasses 100 coronavirus cases --- or 5% of the total on-campus population -- within a two week time period, the school must shift to remote learning only for two weeks.
As higher learning institutions become the new hotbed for COVID-19 spread, NYU is now requiring employees and students living off campus to be tested every two weeks. Students already living on campus have been tested weekly since August.
To reduce the long lines at university-led testing sites, students will be asked to perform a saliva test at home themselves. The test involves participants spitting an adequate amount of saliva into a flip-top test tube that is mixed with a solution the moment the lid is closed.
“When we have a positive, our COVID-19 Prevention & Response Team (CPRT) reaches out to the individual to set up isolation and to start contact tracing,” John Beckman, a spokesperson with NYU, said in a statement to Gothamist. “The individual's NYU ID is automatically deactivated, preventing them from entering campus facilities, until they are cleared by the CPRT.”
It’s unclear how NYU will ensure students and staffers mandated to take the test will submit their own saliva. Beckman said the saliva test was chosen to be a more convenient method over the nose swab test. Beckman also told CNN that the university is partnering with the city to hand out PPE outside Washington Square Park.
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NYU
David Cruz
David is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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