First Pitt student with COVID-19 now isolated at home

On Sunday, Pitt announced the first confirmed case of the coronavirus COVID-19 in one of the Pittsburgh residence halls. University officials later revealed that the infected person had been living in Holland Hall.

In accordance with accepted protocol to reduce the spread of the disease, the University moved to:

  • Retrace the affected individual’s movements.

  • Reach out to people who have had close contact with the individual; these contacts have all been made at this time. If you have not received a notification, you are not at elevated risk for COVID-19 due to this confirmed case.

  • Clean and disinfect areas where this individual resided and any other areas this individual visited for a prolonged period.

The infected person is now self-isolating at their permanent home, and all close contacts are self-quarantining at either their permanent homes or on campus.

All students who remain on campus — around 500 — have been moved to private rooms with individual bathrooms. Students will not be permitted to have any guests in their rooms, and, because of Gov. Tom Wolf’s stay-at-home order, students in Allegheny County are not permitted to leave their residence halls or homes except to get food or medication, seek medical attention or go outdoors for a walk or run while appropriately social distancing.

For any future cases, Pitt said it will continue to work closely with health officials, communicate directly with any close contacts who need to take additional protective measures, and follow the appropriate processes.

But a message from Dean of Students Kenyon Bonner went on to say, “As we are now experiencing community spread in our region, we will not send community or location-specific messages for each subsequent individual case.”

— Susan Jones

 

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