LAUSANNE: Swiss authorities ordered 2,500 students at an elite hospitality management school to quarantine themselves due to a coronavirus outbreak allegedly linked to off-campus partying, the latest back-to-school sign of higher education\u2019s place in the pandemic.<\/p>\n
Authorities in Switzerland\u2019s Vaud canton, or region, said all undergraduates at the Ecole Hoteliere de Lausanne, or the Lausanne Hospitality Management University in English, were told to quarantine at home both on and off campus because the virus already had spread too widely for a more limited order.<\/p>\n
\u201cSignificant outbreaks of infection have appeared at several levels of training, making impossible a more targeted closure than that involving 2,500 students,\u201d the Vaud regional office said in a statement. \u201cUntil Sept. 28, the students must stay home.\u201d<\/p>\n
The statement said an early investigation indicated that \u201cone or more parties was at the origin of these many outbreaks.\u201d The local authorities reiterated a call for party-goers to demonstrate a \u201dresponsible attitude\u201d by wearing masks, practicing social distancing, tracing their contacts and watching for COVID-19 symptoms.<\/p>\n
Ines Blal, the university\u2019s executive dean, said administrators had warned students against holding start-of-term parties, even ff-campus and outside the school\u2019s authority \u2014 and said a \u201cdisciplinary investigation\u201d was underway. She said the school had already been bracing for \u201cworst-case scenarios\u201d in recent months by putting courses online and rolling out distance-learning programs.<\/p>\n
University spokesman Sherif Mamdouh said 11 students had tested positive for the coronavirus in connection with the outbreak so far and none required hospitalization. Mamdouh said only 67 of the undergraduates affected by the quarantine live on campus, while all the rest live off-campus.<\/p>\n
The university, which has been heralded as one of the world\u2019s top schools in the field, has a total student body of about 3,500, including people pursuing advanced degrees.<\/p>\n
Mamdouh said the quarantine runs only through Monday because Swiss authorities factored in a possible 14-day virus incubation period since this month\u2019s start-of-term parties.<\/p>\n
He could not explain why faculty members or graduate students were not included in the quarantine order, but said it was a decision made by the cantonal authorities. They were not immediately available for comment.<\/p>\n
Switzerland is not alone in facing a back-to-school virus surge among students. The World Health Organization, national health authorities and others have cautioned that young people have been a key driver for the continued spread of the coronavirus in several countries in recent weeks.<\/p>\n
The University of Glasgow in Scotland said Thursday that over 600 of its students had to self-isolate after 124 reported cases emerged in \u201ctwo significant clusters\u201d at separate residence halls.<\/p>\n
The university said it believed the outbreak was largely a result of social activity in mid-September during \u201cFreshers\u2019 Week,\u201d when new students arrive and socialize.<\/p>\n
The university said none of its infected students had to receive hospital treatment. It stressed that anyone who breaks coronavirus restrictions could be kicked out of student housing or suspended.<\/p>\n
British Health Secretary Matt Hancock told the BBC that the outbreak was worrying, saying: \u201cThe more young people get it the more they spread it to old people.\u201d<\/p>\n
Universities Scotland, which represents 19 Scottish institutions, said that all students will be required from the weekend to avoid all parties and socializing outside their households. Students will be asked not to go to bars or restaurants and will face disciplinary action if caught, the body said.<\/p>\n
The latest government figures in France show that 22% of the country\u2019s currently active virus clusters emerged at schools and universities. The United States has also seen clusters linked to college students. Denmark\u2019s education minister has urged parents and schools to cancel all social events, including camps and birthday parties.<\/p>\n
World Health Organization spokeswoman Margaret Harris said that while it is \u201cunfair to just put it on the young people,\u201d it\u2019s also unsurprising that teenagers and young adults might assume they don\u2019t need to worry about succumbing to the virus.<\/p>\n
\u201cPerceptions do indicate that they don\u2019t feel they are as at-risk as older groups\u201d Harris said, particularly in the wake of data showing younger people typically have less-severe cases of COVID-19.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe message they have heard is: \u2018You are out of jail, go out and play,\u2019\u201d she said. \u201cWe don\u2019t want to be the fun police, but we want people to have fun safely.\u201d<\/p>\n
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LAUSANNE: Swiss authorities ordered 2,500 students at an elite hospitality management school to quarantine themselves due to a coronavirus outbreak allegedly linked to off-campus partying, the latest back-to-school sign of higher education\u2019s place in the pandemic. Authorities in Switzerland\u2019s Vaud canton, or region, said all undergraduates at the Ecole Hoteliere de Lausanne, or the Lausanne […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":2891,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,9],"tags":[1279,1388],"class_list":{"0":"post-28080","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-all-news","8":"category-miscellaneous","9":"tag-coronavirus-in-zimbabwe","10":"tag-covid-19"},"yoast_head":"\n