In an email sent out to all students on March 9 Fairfield University Vice President for Student Life Karen Donoghue announced that Campion Hall would be placed under “specific mitigation strategies.” Effective on Tuesday, March 9, 2021, at 9:30 p.m. and going through Friday, March 12, 2021 at 3:30 p.m. Specific details were communicated directly to Campion residents.
These efforts come after six residents of Campion, a building with about 200 students, tested positive as of Tuesday night.
Campion residents were made aware of this at 4:35 p.m. via an email sent by Meredith Smith, the associate director and dean of residence life at Fairfield. Her email explained the rules and regulations to ensure the safety of students during the quarantine.
At the time the email was sent, only five residents had tested positive so far.
In Donaghue’s email, she expressed that these mitigation efforts were made in consultation with the Town of Fairfield Health Department.
Campion residents will have to “revert to entirely virtual experiences for the next three days” and there will be active communication with the professors of the students impacted.
There has been a “stay-in-your room directive” put in place where students “are only permitted to leave your room to participate in mandatory testing, to pick up “grab and go” meals from the Oak Room and to utilize the bathroom and shower facilities”
There will also be security monitoring of the building 24/7 to ensure students are complying with the rules and regulations put in place. Campion residents are also “required to swipe back into the building after picking up meals [and are] instructed to utilize the south quad entrance facing Loyola Hall”. Finally, under only “an extraordinary circumstance” are Campion residents allowed to leave campus.
When the news broke to the residents of Campion, resident assistant for the second floor Tushi Patel stated in a GroupMe message to her residents, “I recognize how overwhelming this is, trust me I know so please know you’re not alone in this and we’re going to get through this with everyone’s help and effort.”
With regards to her duty as a RA during this circumstance, Patel said, “I’m an SRA [Senior Resident Assistant] so my responsibilities also entail supporting the RA staff. But for RAs, there isn’t anything special we’re doing. A lot of this is being handled by DPS and the ACs to ensure we are also protected and safe.”
The sudden surge of cases comes as a surprise because “the overall campus community is seeing favorable results”. Additionally ”the dashboard demonstrates a lower positivity rate within our community than seen in the greater Fairfield community.”
However, this is not the first time a specific resident building will be placed in quarantine. Last semester Claver Hall Residents were placed in a 14-day quarantine when 20 percent of the building tested positive.
The Mirror will continue to update our readers with the situation at Campion as it unfolds.
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