First it was San Diego State. Now there's an outbreak of COVID 19 among the student body at Point Loma Nazarene University.
“It’s definitely a scary feeling,” said senior Shriya Asher, who's a resident advisor in the school's on campus apartments. She told KPBS there are no COVID cases in her building.
The cases are spread across four dormitories: Klassen, Hendricks, Young and Nease Halls.
The school put out a notice late Tuesday alerting students and faculty of the outbreak. Twelve students were first identified as having COVID, but on Wednesday that rose to 19. Sixty-six students are now in quarantine. They're told to shelter in place in their dorms and not leave their respective floors until cleared by the school’s wellness center.
There are no cases so far among faculty or staff.
“I kind of have just been waiting for that email to come," Asher said of the news that cases were on the rise. "I kind of anticipated it ever since there was a move in of students on campus. I kind of expected that the numbers would increase.”
Along with the email about the uptick in cases, the school also announced a tightening of its policy on masks. A school spokeswoman told KPBS that up until now, as long as students were physically distancing outside, they weren’t being too strict about mask wearing. But that's not the case anymore. Students must now wear masks at all times, except in their dorm rooms or while eating or exercising.
“I think that the school has done a good job of emphasizing the severity of the virus and how important it is for us. If we want to maintain our community that we love so much and being a part of Point Loma, we have to abide by these safety rules,” said senior Makayla Renner.
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Renner said her fellow students were already doing a good job of wearing masks before the school’s new, stricter rule.
“I’m glad that we tightened those restrictions and I think a lot of my friends that I’ve spoken to that live on campus are glad that the university is doing so much to keep them safe and remind everyone across the board that this is important," Renner said.
Asher went on to say, “We don’t know what the future holds, but I do believe that something beautiful is going to come out of all of this, regardless of if that’s in a year or if that’s in a few months or whenever.”
It's a hope that, no doubt, stretches far beyond the confines of Point Loma Nazarene University.
