The University of Toledo is asking students who attended recent large social events to follow a 14-day self-quarantine to avoid infecting others after 27 students, including some athletes, tested positive for coronavirus.
Toledo-Lucas County Health Commissioner Eric Zgodzinski said Friday his department is aware of the 27 UT students who tested positive for the virus, though a number of students have self-reported those results.
The positive tests follow a number of large social gatherings involving students, Mr. Zgodzinski said, and could increase as his staff continues to perform contact tracing. The health department is monitoring 33 students it has identified through the tracing, a number that will also likely increase, spokesman Shannon Lands said.
“I would imagine that’s probably going to increase over the weekend,” Mr. Zgodzinski said of the number of positive tests involving UT students.
Mr. Zgodzinski applauded the university, which he said consulted with the department to develop a plan for students to return to campus. But that plan’s success, he says, depends on students’ cooperation.
“The plan is only going to be as good as the students’ willingness to follow it,” Mr. Zgodzinski said. “I’m happy with what UT is doing about contacting us, communication-wise, what I’m a little concerned with is college students thinking that this is a year ago and we can go to parties and we can get together and do the things we did.”
Meghan Cunningham, a university spokesman, said UT is collecting data and working on a dashboard to share information related to cases. She added that the large gatherings all occurred off campus.
Dozens of students were spread out Friday afternoon across the UT campus, social distancing and wearing masks, a new normal for the college experience.
While studying on an outdoor table, fifth-year physics student Tori Schlenk said she wasn’t too concerned about contracting the virus as she social distanced from others, noting, “If I get it, I get it.”
But large parties, she said bluntly, shouldn’t happen right now.
“I feel like the people who are doing mass gatherings right now are stupid,” Ms. Schlenk said.
Freshman chemistry student Vanessa Baumgartner agreed.
“I can’t really support it,” she said through a mask. “I wouldn't call it smart.”
Curtis Bauer, a freshman computer science and engineering student, saw difficulty in controlling off-campus parties at a university.
“It’s dumb, but there’s not much you can do,” he said. “They’re going to do what they’re going to do and if they get it, that’s their punishment, I guess.”
Mr. Bauer said though the virus is a “very big concern,” he feels safe under his hybrid schedule under which he only attends two in-person classes per week and does the rest online. That, and his comfort with social distancing, he said.
“I’m an introvert,” he added.
In a letter sent to students Friday, UT interim president Gregory Postel confirmed that large gatherings have led to some students self-quarantining.
"We are aware of large social gatherings and off-campus events that some of our UToledo campus community have hosted and attended," the letter read. "If you were involved in these activities, you should not be on campus putting everyone else at risk. We have already experienced some cases of COVID-19 on our campus and everyone at these events should be following the 14-day quarantine to keep your friends and colleagues safe and healthy.”
The letter continued: “Your actions have consequences that impact you and all of those around you. This behavior simply cannot continue. We will hold students accountable to the safety commitment they signed and will enforce these principles among our employees."
In a statement, UT also confirmed that there are students on campus who are currently self-isolating, but insisted there is “no cluster requiring a hall to be under quarantine.”
A university spokesman also confirmed student athletes are among those quarantined, but declined to identify those students by sport because of privacy concerns.
Mike O’Brien, UT’s vice president and athletic director, said in a statement that student athletes are expected to “use good judgment” and abide by COVID-19 Pledge Forms they signed before returning to campus.
"Student-athletes who violate the terms of these commitments will be held accountable,” Mr. O’Brien said.
UT began voluntary coronavirus surveillance testing earlier this week. The university expects to conduct as many as 2,000 surveillance tests of faculty, staff, and students during the first four weeks of fall semester. Classes resumed Monday.
Ms. Cunningham said UT is providing residential students who require isolation or quarantine after a positive diagnosis or a potential exposure with alternative housing and food delivery services to protect all students’ health and safety.
Blade staff writers Jeff Schmucker and Brian Buckey contributed to this report.
First Published August 21, 2020, 4:04 p.m.
