At the close of the holiday weekend, San Diego State extended a “stay at home” order for on-campus residents and a COVID-19 Advisory for students living in the College Area.
The stay at home order began on Sept. 5 and was originally slated to end on Sept. 8 at 6 a.m. Now students living in on-campus dorms and apartments will be required to stay in their residences, save for essential activities, until Sept. 14 at 9 a.m.
“We are pleased to share that we have seen significantly reduced activity in the College Area over this holiday weekend,” Vice President for Student Affairs and Campus Diversity J. Luke Wood wrote in an email sent Monday evening. “We cannot underscore enough our appreciation for those who are following the public health guidelines.”
Over the weekend, SDSU was trending on Twitter in California after a thread authored by a Residential Education staff member claimed that the university was not doing enough to enforce guidelines. Among the claims was that several students isolating after a positive COVID-19 test have not followed the rules.
I might lose my job by posting this, but at this point idc. SDSU is literally killing students with their incompetence. Here’s a thread exposing SDSU coming from someone who works in the residence halls
— BLACK TRANS LIVES MATTER (@sharky_marky17) September 5, 2020
In Monday’s email, the university confirmed this, saying that it has received reports of students in isolation disregarding guidance.
“Students currently in isolation or quarantine must remain in compliance with guidelines provided by medical providers,” the email stated. “We have received reports of a few students who are not complying, and this is unacceptable.”
A separate tweet from the same account included an anonymous student leader’s message claiming SDSU had run out of isolation rooms and would begin putting two students in the same suite.
I just received some disturbing news from one of the student leaders working near an isolation building at SDSU: they are confirming isolation rooms are starting to reach capacity and will now start housing two students per suite. Each student still has an individual bathroom
— BLACK TRANS LIVES MATTER (@sharky_marky17) September 7, 2020
When asked for comment about this SDSU issued the following statement:
“As part of the in-depth planning process prior to the start of the fall 2020 semester, as we have previously shared, several contingencies regarding isolation spaces were put into place. While the university has referenced the 130 designated isolation rooms for on-campus residents who have tested positive for COVID-19, as a contingency, the university has the ability to activate additional isolation rooms or buildings, should there be a need. To be clear, contrary to recent reports on social media, San Diego State University is not nearing the capacity of its designated isolation rooms.”
The statement went on, “Also, contrary to current social media discussions, the university is not placing two students in any one isolation room to cohabitate. Some isolation rooms are located in apartment or suite-style living arrangements, in which each individual student is isolating in their own bedrooms. SDSU’s isolation and quarantine protocols are consistent with state and county guidance.”
No new cases of COVID-19 were reported among students on Monday and the total number of cases confirmed since Aug. 24 remains at 286. However, the number of students testing positive is expected to increase.
“Given ongoing testing, and because of the earlier levels of reports before this weekend regarding gatherings and non-compliance with health policies, we anticipate more positive cases will soon be reported,” Wood wrote in the Monday email. “There is often a delay between high-risk behavior and new cases being identified.”
According to the same email some students who have tested positive have fully recovered and are doing well, and there are no reports of hospitalizations.
Editor’s note: This story was updated Sept. 7 at 9:44 p.m. to include a statement from the university.
