(The Center Square) – University of Michigan COVID-19 policies require students who test positive to “prepare an isolation plan” for five days by finding a hotel, returning home, or staying at a friend off campus.
“Develop an isolation plan, which could include moving to your permanent residence, staying with a nearby relative or friend, or finding a hotel room,” the UM guidelines say.
THE policy asks students to report positive test results unless they have been tested through the university system, which automatically reports results to UM’s Department of Environment, Health and Safety.
Students should notify close contacts and those within 6 feet for 15 minutes or more during their infectious period.
EHS will contact students and campus employees, usually within 24 hours, to discuss care and isolation options. THE policy recommends not using public transportation such as buses, trains, taxis, planes, or carpooling and suggests getting transportation if there is only one other person in the car and the final location will have a bedroom with a closed door and access to a bathroom that can be disinfected after each use.
Students who live alone in a single room must leave campus if they test positive for COVID-19. The policy states that students who test positive must self-isolate for five days and then wear a mask for an additional five days.
“You will be required to leave your residence while in isolation,” the policy reads.
Jay Bhattacharya, professor of medicine and health policy at Stanford University, critical the rules on social networks as being “cruel”.
“At @UMich, students who test positive for covid must leave their dorm for 5 days and live in the community,” Bhattacharya wrote. “A hotel room or a relative’s house is fine. This cruel policy aims to spread the Covid from the university to nature. It won’t stop Covid from spreading @umich.
In 2020, Governor Gretchen Whitmer halted in-person instruction at colleges and universities for at least three weeks.
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