Quinnipiac Raises Coronavirus Alert Level, Moves Classes Online

HAMDEN, CT — Quinnipiac University is moving most of its classes online after seeing a spike in coronavirus cases within the last few days, officials announced Wednesday.

Quinnipiac’s campus alert level has been raised to “orange.” There have been 55 new cases of the coronavirus since officials last updated the school’s COVID dashboard on Nov. 2.

David R. Hill, Quinnipiac’s senior medical adviser, said 34 of the new cases are on-campus students and 21 are off-campus. There are currently 108 active cases in isolation, according to Hill.

All on-ground graduate and undergraduate classes will be remote through Nov. 6 except for classes in the Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine.

“We will reevaluate whether in-person classes can resume next week,” Hill said in a message to the school community. “Students should inform their clinical placement, school-based supervisor or internship supervisor that they will not be on site for the remainder of the week.”

Faculty and staff were told they can work from home and students “should restrict interactions and activities until further notice,” according to Hill.

“Social interactions should be restricted to your residential family unit/pod to limit further spread of the virus,” Hill said. “All students are asked to remain inside their residence halls, apartments or suites as much as possible, and if outdoors, please limit interactions to those with your roommates. If you live in off-campus housing, please remain in your house to eliminate contagion within and outside our community.”

Dining has been moved to takeout only and in-person events and gatherings have been paused.

“We are taking these measures in order to reverse the trend in COVID cases,” Hill said. “We recognize that these increased restrictions are inconvenient and challenging, but we know from public health experts and the experiences of other universities that these measures work to stem the tide of infection. We will continue to take every precaution and containment measure, and we will update our campus community regularly.”