Nearly 100 Coronavirus Cases At Sacred Heart University

FAIRFIELD, CT — Several weeks into the fall semester, nearly 100 students, faculty and staff at Sacred Heart University have the coronavirus.

In total, 94 campus community members had the virus as of Thursday, according to Executive Director of Communications Deb Noack, who noted the school has a population of more than 10,000.

The virus vaccine is required at Sacred Heart, and 93 percent of students are vaccinated, with the other 7 percent having received medical or religious exemptions. All unvaccinated students — as well as a random selection of vaccinated students — are tested weekly for COVID-19.

“With the delta variant so easily transmitted, we expected our case numbers to ebb and flow,” Noack said in an email, adding coronavirus cases recorded at the school have been asymptomatic or mild. “We believe we have the necessary precautions in place to protect the community while still allowing for on-ground classes, programs and all the things that make for a normal college experience.”

Students who are required to isolate because of the virus are doing so off-campus, according to Noack, who added the school has a contact tracing program and an indoor masking mandate.

However, in a Sept. 10 message to university community members disclosing that Sacred Heart had 50 active cases, officials noted that when Connecticut College in New London reached 124 such cases, students were put into cautionary quarantine and largely restricted to their residence hall floors.

“ … we don’t want to have to impose further restrictions, and we certainly don’t want to revert to remote learning,” said the message, which warned that failure to properly mask up would result in disciplinary measures.

Fairfield University has also implemented a mask mandate indoors, as well as a universal COVID-19 test requirement, which had to be completed within the first week of the semester. The school is not mandating vaccination, although more than 90 percent of campus community members were fully or partially vaccinated well before classes started last week.

Fairfield University’s first coronavirus numbers for the semester will be posted online Friday.