Pitt will institute a shelter-in-place and move to the middle Elevated Risk posture at 9 p.m. Wednesday, the University’s COVID-19 Medical Response Office announced.
The CMRO said in an email that the move is in response to a “consistent increase” in positive cases among students. With the presence of the U.K. variant B 1.1.7., on campus and in Allegheny County, the CMRO said it is “concerned” that this trend will continue.
The office added that it is “significantly” concerned that the increase in positive cases since the end of last week is now also among residence hall students. The CMRO said Tuesday that 13 residence halls had reported cases of COVID-19.
The shelter-in-place will remain in effect until the CMRO announces that it has been lifted. During this period, the CMRO said students should only leave their rooms to “attend classes, labs, or clinicals in person; pick up food; exercise safely; study in the library; work when necessary; and shop for essentials and medical needs.”
Eric Macadangdang, the president of Student Government Board, said he hopes the move to Elevated Risk and sheltering in place will help mitigate the spread of COVID-19 on campus.
“Obviously this isn’t what any of us want, but it’s definitely what we need right now,” Macadangdang said, “in terms of the numbers that we’re seeing and the relative new cases that we are seeing on campus, which I think necessitates making that risk posture change because it deals heavily on on-campus operations. So this is just not an off campus situation anymore.”
Macadangdang added that the University’s senior leadership team, including Chancellor Patrick Gallagher, made the final decision to make the move.
“The resiliency steering committee was informed prior to the public announcement about the move, with the rationale behind it that the cases are remaining high, there’s the presence of the variant and there’s concern for cases to increase over time, especially within residence halls,” Macadangdang said.
The CMRO has reported 30 new COVID-19 cases since Thursday, and 50 new cases in the report prior. According to the CMRO, large St. Patrick’s Day gatherings and the COVID-19 variant first found in the U.K. surfacing on Pitt’s campus caused the spike in cases.
The email also said campus dining will be available via take out only beginning with Thursday morning’s breakfast service. Residence hall lounges, recreation rooms and kitchens will begin closing Wednesday evening.
Contributed reporting by Ashton Crawley.
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