ALBION, MI (WKZO AM/FM) – Because of a rising number of COVID-19 cases on campus, students at Albion College were sent home early for their winter break.
Students were notified late last week and asked to leave campus by noon this past Saturday. Originally, students were scheduled to leave campus November 25, but school officials say a rise in positive cases at the college and the willingness of faculty to move classes online for the remainder of the semester prompted their move.
A statement on the school’s website said the number of close contacts on campus was impacting the college’s capacity to manage the number of students in quarantine, according to a statement posted on Albion College’s website. Many members of the college’s essential support staff also had to quarantine due to the recent increase in COVID-19 cases.
As of Friday, November 13, Albion College had 118 people in quarantine. Nine people who tested positive for the virus were in isolation on campus and nine were off campus. Albion has had a population positive rate of just over 3%,
Some students have been permitted to stay on campus, including students who had already booked non-refundable travel tickets and out-of-state students, for whom last-minute travel would have been difficult.
Albion College still plans to bring students back to campus in late January, after winter break.
