Illinois

Bradley Lifting Student Quarantine Wednesday, But Many Restrictions Will Remain

WCBU | By Tim Shelley

Published September 21, 2020 at 2:38 PM CDT

Bradley University is lifting the all-student quarantine on Wednesday, but many COVID-19-related restrictions will remain in place.

While in-person classes will resume, Bradley University President Steve Standifird said students still cannot visit off-campus residences, or go out to eat or drink. Students also are required to wear masks at all times and socially distance six feet except when in their own sleeping rooms. All students also are barred from receiving guests at their residences.

"While we were able to reverse the dangerous trajectory we were on, we haven’t eliminated COVID-19 from our campus community. We must remain vigilant," said Standifird. "The number of new cases being diagnosed and the number of students who would be in quarantine have decreased significantly. We expect the number of positive cases and those in quarantine to continue to decline over the next few days."

The one-week campus positivity rate was 16.4% as of last Friday. Seventeen additional people tested positive over the weekend.

Standifird said another spike in COVID-19 cases would lead to another two-week, all-student quarantine. The semester would then be finished virtually, with some exceptions on a case-by-case basis.

Campus testing protocols also will change, with testing now including symptomatic, asymptomatic, surveillance, and targeted testing categories. Beginning Wednesday, specific students who test positive and their close contacts will be quarantined, rather than entire residence hall floors. Entire off-campus or Greek housing will continue to be considered close contacts.

Students in isolation or quarantine can continue attending classes virtually, but not in-person.

Standifird said students can still request to switch over to full virtual learning. Those who move out by Sept. 27 will have meal and housing plans prorated to Sept. 9.

The university president said he hopes this model carries Bradley through Nov. 20, the planned end of in-person courses for the fall semester.

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