Undergraduate students at Duke University will be forced to quarantine after an outbreak of coronavirus cases linked to recruiting parties, according to the school.
Duke said in a statement that the action was to control the increasing number of COVID-19 cases among undergraduate students, which they said was “mainly driven by students attending recruiting parties for selective life groups.”
The school said more than 180 students are in isolation after testing positive for COVID-19, and that there are still 200 in quarantine due to contract tracing.
“This is by far the largest number of positive tests and quarantines of a week since the start of the pandemic,” the school said.
Under the order, all personal courses will only be transferred online, and undergraduate students will not be able to participate in laboratory activities.
Students living on campus must stay in their residence or apartment, except for activities related to food, health or safety. Those who live off-campus are not allowed on campus except for supervision tests, seeking medical care, and obtaining food.
The order went into effect at midnight on March 13 and will remain in effect until March 9 until 9 p.m. The university warned that ‘flagrant and repeated offenses’ could be suspended or withdrawn from the institution.
The school will continue to monitor the situation and will share an update on March 18th.
Duke currently has 6,542 undergraduate students enrolled.