from New Haven Register

Outbreak elevates Yale COVID alert level, quarantines students

By Jim Shay, Nov. 7th, 2020

NEW HAVEN — Students in three Yale University residential colleges have been asked to quarantine and sports activities have been suspended for the weekend after a surge in COVID-19 cases, school officials said.

On Friday, Yale also raised its COVID-alert status from yellow to orange. The change in status means no visitors are allowed on campus, travel is strongly discouraged, gathering sizes are limited and targeted quarantine for campus locations with clusters of infection.

There has been an outbreak of 20 cases associated with the Davenport, Hopper and Saybrook residential colleges, according to Dr. Stephanie S. Spangler, vice provost for health affairs and academic integrity. Students in these residential colleges have been asked to quarantine until Thursday, Spangler said.

As of Friday, Yale reported a total of 151 COVID-19 cases since Aug. 1, an increase of 42 over the last week.

“From information gathered through contact tracing, it appears likely that these recent cases may be related to each other, like many of those in the broader New Haven and Connecticut communities, are associated with social gatherings and dining in restaurants,” Spangler said.

“While our contact tracing and outbreak investigation teams work to learn more about these cases and to identify any additional contacts, we have raised our COVID-19 alert status from yellow to orange and have put additional precautions in place to prevent further transmission of COVID-19 on our campus.”

According to the school, raising the alert to orange also means:

All residential college students are encouraged to limit activities off-campus;

Students living off-campus who have affiliations with Davenport, Hopper, and Saybrook colleges may visit those colleges only for routine, scheduled COVID-19 testing;

All students on- and off-campus should refrain from dining in restaurants; however, food delivery is an acceptable alternative;

All students are encouraged to limit visitors to their suites or residences and to require masks for all visitors;

Varsity athletics will revert to phase zero (no in-person activities) through Sunday, when restrictions will be reevaluated; intramurals will be paused for the same period;

Travel outside of the New Haven region during this period is discouraged for all Yale community members;

Graduate, professional, and undergraduate students may not travel outside of Connecticut for the remaining two weeks of the residential semester;

Students leaving campus prior to Thanksgiving are encouraged to receive a negative test result no more than 72 hours prior to their departure to protect the health of friends, family, and those in destination communities.

Staff and faculty who plan to travel are also encouraged to get tested and receive a negative result prior to departure.

“We are grateful for the steadfast efforts of each of you to stay safe and stay together despite the challenging times,” Provost Scott Strobel said.

“This pandemic has required us to behave in ways that are not conducive to typical social interactions. While the upcoming holiday season will bring some much-needed respite, we recognize that many of us will still not be able to spend the holidays with loved ones in traditional ways. Despite the difficult nature of our current circumstances, our community has come together with extraordinary resilience this year.

“There are just a few weeks left in the residential portion of this semester. Let’s continue our efforts as we complete the semester, recognizing that our collective actions will impact the health and well-being of our entire community,” Strobel said.