Health officials at the University of Michigan are concerned about outbreaks of COVID-19 in residence halls on campus. The occupancy of the university's quarantine and isolation housing has gone from 17% a week ago to 46% as of Friday, according to the U of M's COVID-19 dashboard.
In U of M's weekly COVID-19 update briefing, officials expressed particular concern over an outbreak occurring at Mary Markley Hall.
Dr. Preeti Malani is the university's chief health officer. She says the rate of students going to quarantine and isolation housing is "not sustainable."
"Like prior clusters, these cases were related to social gatherings. And unfortunately, some of the individuals who tested positive also had large numbers of close contacts. So, many students had to be moved to quarantine housing because of these high-risk exposures," she says.
Dr. Malani says the university is a little more than halfway through the semester, but it's not too late to pivot to online classes. She says that students need to be extra cautious in the coming weeks as they spend more time indoors.
