The University of Delaware continues to deal with a spring semester outbreak of coronavirus, with administrators warning that stronger measures will be needed if the numbers fail to improve.
UD’s Covid-19 dashboard reported 300 cases in the past week week, a figure that appeared to account for a fifth of all cases in Delaware, a state with 975,000 residents. Cases reported in recent days totaled 8.
UD earlier limited dining halls to carry out service but stopped short of moving all classes to online.
“We are at a decisive moment in our fight against COVID-19 at the University of Delaware. With the high number of positive cases in the first two weeks of this semester, we are on track to quickly exceed the number in the entire fall semester,” a letter to the UD community noted.
“This spike in COVID-19 cases is directly linked to the behavior of students in campus dining halls, in off-campus housing, and in local bars and restaurants, where too many people are gathering without following health protocols,” the letter continued.
Future steps could include all online classes, confining students to their residence halls, and prohibiting off-campus students from coming on campus for anything other than research or work., the letter stated.
Since fall, the letter reported that more than 450 students had been cited for Covid-19 violations, with sanctions that included suspension.
