February 10, 2021 - Anderson Hall Quarantine

Dear Members of the Whitman Community,

I wanted to give you some more information following the alert you received this evening about the quarantine of students living in Anderson Hall. 

Today we detected 9 positive COVID cases in students living at Anderson. In consultation with our epidemiologist, we decided the most efficient way to stop the spread of COVID on our campus was to quarantine all students who live in Anderson. All quarantined students will be tested repeatedly over the coming week to identify students who are positive and move them to isolation as quickly as possible.  Students who test positive will be followed up with comprehensive contact tracing.

For the duration of this quarantine, all students in Anderson are restricted to their residence hall. They will move to remote learning, will have food delivered by Bon Appetit, and will not be going to Cleveland Commons or other buildings on campus. 

If you share classes or activities with someone who lives in Anderson, you don’t need to panic. Just because someone lives in Anderson and is quarantined, that does necessarily mean that they have tested positive for COVID nor does it mean that they have been in close contact with you.  Close contact is defined by CDC as someone who was within 6 feet of an infected person for a cumulative total of 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period starting from 2 days before illness onset (or, for asymptomatic patients, 2 days prior to test specimen collection) until the time the patient is isolated.

If you have followed physical distancing and masking protocols, it is unlikely that you would have had close contact. If a student does indicate that you have been a close contact, you will receive follow-up with more information.

We will be meeting virtually with the students of Anderson Hall tonight to go over expectations, and next steps.  Representatives from the health center, dean of students office, residence life, and the coronavirus task force will be there to answer their questions.

This is another reminder of the importance of our COVID protocols. I urge us all to continue to social distance, wear masks, complete your daily wellness check, avoid gathering in groups, and participate in surveillance testing.

We will continue to communicate with the campus community as this situation evolves.

Thank you,

Peter Harvey Chair, Coronavirus Taskforce