STAMFORD, Conn — The University of Connecticut is quarantining a dormitory at its Stamford campus after five students tested positive for COVID-19 on Saturday.
One other dormitory resident tested positive on Friday, bringing the total number of students to six. UConn says three were identified through the college's surveillance testing, and three through outside testing.
As a result, UConn has placed the entire residence hall at 900 Washington Boulevard in Stamford under quarantine.
About 235 students live in the building. They were informed of the quarantine on Satuday and are expected to remain under quarantine for at least two weeks. The University says it is arranging for additional testing of the residents.
There is also one new positive off-campus case in Stamford.
On Saturday, UConn also announced one new on-campus positive in Storrs and two new off-campus cases among students associated with the Storrs campus.
The University has ordered residential students in Storrs to stay away from all off-campus social gatherings until the middle of next week amid a spike in COVID-19 cases. UConn reported 15 new positive tests for the coronavirus on Friday, the highest single-day number since late September. Twelve of those were from students, including nine who live off-campus. UConn Dean of Students Eleanor Daugherty sent an email Friday saying that anyone living on campus and caught attending an off-campus party over the Halloween weekend will be subject to school discipline. She said the prohibition does not include voting.
UConn says they "continue to test hundreds of students on a regular day as part of ongoing surveillance efforts. This surveillance includes testing for randomly selected students, as well as asymptomatic on- or off-campus Storrs students who request a test as a precaution. UConn also continues testing wastewater from several on-campus spots to assess the presence of COVID-19 virus as a way to predict and limit the potential scope of outbreak."
UConn Student Health and Wellness is using a 'pooled' testing method that significantly increases the speed and volume of testing. Students provide a saliva sample in a tube, which is pooled with other samples to create one large batch for testing. If the pooled sample is negative, all students in that pool are deemed negative; if it is positive, the students in the pool are tested individually.
