In the last few weeks, many students and faculty have fallen ill. In addition to an upper respiratory sickness, many have been experiencing gastrointestinal issues.
Five positive COVID-19 tests were reported to ObieSafe last week. According to Andrew Oni, executive director of Student Health and Wellbeing, this is a steady continuation of the number of cases reported since the start of the semester.
However, the school’s ability to track cases is limited. The only way of knowing how many students have COVID-19 is for them to self-report to ObieSafe, and the College has no way of knowing if this is representative of the actual number of cases.
Additionally, in the last couple of weeks, several students have reported gastrointestinal problems to Student Health Services. The cases may be linked to norovirus, a contagious virus that causes vomiting and diarrhea that has recently been spreading across the Northeast region of the United States, according to the CDC. However, Joanna Ornelas, director of Student Health, said that they can’t know for sure.
For now, Ornelas recommended that students call or come into Student Health if they are experiencing gastrointestinal issues. Overall, Ornelas suggests maintaining general hygiene practices.
“Wash your hands, stay away from somebody if you don’t feel well, don’t go to classes,” Ornelas said. “We would also encourage cleaning the bathroom, cleaning around … your toilet bowl and high-touch surface areas in the bathroom for the good of the housemates or for your own sake.”
In terms of COVID-19, although CDC guidelines have changed so that people who test positive no longer need to stay away from others for five days, Ornelas said that the school has not yet updated their recommendations.
Ornelas recommends for people to continue to test for COVID-19 if they are experiencing symptoms and to mask and stay home when they are sick. Free masks and COVID-19 tests can be found in the Student Health Center.
“Assume it’s COVID[-19] until proven otherwise,” Ornelas said.
