(WXYZ) — The Washtenaw County Health Department is recommending that all currently enrolled University of Michigan students living on or near the Ann Arbor campus stay in place through Feb. 7.
The recommendation is directed at all U-M undergraduate, graduate and professional students enrolled in the Winter 2021 term and currently residing on or off campus in Washtenaw County.
Students are being asked to remain at their campus-area addresses and to not gather with others outside of their household members.
Students are permitted to leave their residence only to participate in limited activities, including in-person classes, work or research that cannot be completed remotely, obtaining food and medical care and other approved activities.
The recommendation is designed to further limit in-person gatherings and slow the increasing spread of cases of COVID-19 in the community, including more contagious variant.
Since the beginning of the winter term, increased testing of U-M students has identified 175 COVID-19 cases among students in the U-M community, 14 of which have been determined to be the new variant, the county says.
“We are very concerned about the potential for this variant to spread quickly,” says Jimena Loveluck, MSW, health officer for Washtenaw County, in a press release. “We are working closely with the university to take coordinated steps to control the current outbreak and understand the situation more fully.
The stay-in-place recommendation is in place immediately through 11:59pm on Feb 7. The health department says more stringent actions may be necessary if this outbreak continues to grow and additional variant clusters are identified.
All U-M students living on or near campus also are strongly encouraged to participate in free weekly testing provided by the university. Undergraduates living on or coming to campus are required by the university to be tested weekly.
The recommendation outlines the following exceptions, with strict adherence to mandatory testing requirements and other preventive measures:
• To attend in-person classes, including instructional labs, and access essential technology at designated study areas that provide for single-person study space.
• To pick up food, attend medical appointments, pick up medication, or obtain COVID-19 testing or vaccination.
• To work, including in-person research, only if the work cannot be done remotely.
• To participate in clinical rotations, student teaching or other off-campus experiential learning assignments that are held in person, with approval and disclosure to the organization that both the school and site are aware and supportive of continued participation.
• For physical activity outdoors in groups of no more than two.
• For religious practice activities.
• For volunteering in approved vaccination and testing efforts.
Additional Coronavirus information and resources:
View a global coronavirus tracker with data from Johns Hopkins University.
See complete coverage on our Coronavirus Continuing Coverage page.
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