Monmouth, Princeton Tell Students To Stay Home

My alma mater, Monmouth University, has canceled all classes before their scheduled Spring Break, which will start March 14th. On the flipside, Princeton University students who were already on Spring Break were told to stay home.

MU released a statement saying that a student reported flu-like symptoms to Health Services, and was transported to Monmouth Medical Center for further evaluation. No additional information is known about the student’s condition at this time. The school does stress that there are currently no confirmed cases of COVID-19 associated with the university. UPDATE: the student had a "bad case of the flu, [but] did not test positive for the COVID-19 virus."

The statement from Princeton is even more dire, suggesting that the University community does the following:

• Keep at least six feet between yourself and another person in all public places including the library and dining halls.
• Avoid close contact, including handshakes and hugging.
• Limit in-person meetings.

Princeton said they plan to reopen on April 5th, but I didn't see any specific timeline for Monmouth.

If I were still in college, I'd be stoked for an extra week/month of Spring Break, but my immediate question would also be if I was going to be reimbursed a portion of my tuition for this time.

Colleges are notorious for being hotbeds of sickness. Take a large group of people, stick them together in dorms, add in some sowing of wild oats, and you constantly hear about various outbreaks. With the heightened contagious nature of COVID-19, I can't say I disagree with anyone's decision to keep large groups of people from getting together.

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