UConn reports 2 COVID-19 cases, as students move onto campus

PHOTO | Contributed UConn's flagship Storrs campus.

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By Sean Teehan

Two students tested positive for COVID-19, the University of Connecticut reported, as about 1,400 pupils moved onto UConn's campus over the weekend for fall semester.

The cases represented about 0.1% of the students tested for the virus between Friday and Sunday, according to UConn. Students who tested positive will self-quarantine for two weeks, and then will be re-tested for COVID-19, said UConn Dean of Student Eleanor Daugherty.

“This is exactly why UConn created the 14-day quarantine period for our residential students in advance of the start of classes at the end of the month," Daugherty said. "There will undoubtedly be more positive cases as more tests result in the coming days, and we will address each the same way."

Cases come as UConn prepares to reopen its flagship Storrs campus and four regional campuses for in-person classes beginning Aug. 31. About 5,500 students signed up for residential spaces at Storrs this fall, and about 265 more will move onto UConn's Stamford campus.

UConn announced last week the university will not allow out-of-state students enrolled in all remote classes to live on campus for the fall semester, citing COVID-19.

In a letter to students and faculty, Katsouleas said he made the decision in an effort to further "de-densify" the campus to allow for social distancing, and that out-of-state students enrolled in courses with in-person content are allowed to live on campus. Also exempt are international students, who may also live on-campus.

UConn also canceled its 2020 football season, with Director of Athletics David Benedict calling the safety challenges posed by COVID-19 to be "an unacceptable level of risk.”

According to UConn's reopening plan, professors will run courses as a mix of in-person, online and hybrid formats. In-person classroom layouts will space students at least six feet from each other.

Like reopening plans at the University of Hartford and Connecticut State Colleges and Universities, UConn students won't return to campus after the Thanksgiving break, and will complete the semester remotely.