Texas State will no longer allow students to have visitors in their dorm rooms and is seeking additional spaces on campus for students to self-isolate and quarantine.
The university, in consultation with President Denise Trauth and the President’s Cabinet, is identifying additional space in university-owned facilities for students to safely isolate and quarantine and will work to relocate some students to other residence hall rooms or apartments, the school said in a Sept. 8 email to students.
This action follows recommendations from Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, and Dr. Deborah Birx, the coordinator of the White House Coronavirus task force, stating university students should not be sent home for isolation or quarantine.
Texas State’s Chief Medical Officer Emilio Carranco says there is no evidence of significant transmission in campus residence halls despite seeing positive cases in several. The Department of Housing and Residential Life will no longer allow residents to have visitors in their rooms for safety purposes, mandating meetings with friends to take place in common areas or outdoors where social distancing can be maintained and masks are required.
The university is currently accommodating students on empty floors in designated residence halls for students who need to quarantine after being identified as close contacts to a positive case. Texas State is also providing space in university-owned apartments for students who need to isolate after testing positive. As of Sept. 8, 29 students from residence halls are in isolation, and 37 are quarantined in university facilities.
Carranco states that, as of Sept. 8, 71 positive student cases were reported from testing performed at university and non-university sites during the first week of classes, 84 were reported the second week and five faculty/staff positive cases were reported across both weeks.