Latest in a series of posts on the coronavirus 
Moravian College – Health Alerts
“While I thought, just a few days ago, we would make it to the end of the semester, I now realize our campus, our students, and our families are at risk from an ever-growing list of students going into quarantine and contracting COVID on our campus.”
Moravian College president Grigsby
Moravian College is in a two-week campus lockdown before students go home for Thanksgiving in light of a recent spike in students quarantining due to exposure to the coronavirus.
The college shifted to Tier 3 of its safety plan Wednesday morning, which means all classes except required labs and clinicals are online, and all campus buildings are closed except residence halls. College officials made the call after the number of students quarantining on campus jumped from six to 27 in the previous day, and the campus had five positive cases in the previous five days.
This poses a danger to the students’ families, President Bryon Grigsby wrote in a message to students Wednesday.
“While I thought, just a few days ago, we would make it to the end of the semester, I now realize our campus, our students, and our families are at risk from an ever-growing list of students going into quarantine and contracting COVID on our campus,” he wrote.
During lockdown, on-campus students are encouraged to stay in their dorms, sports teams cannot practice, and dining options are packaged or take-out only.
Since August, Moravian has had 32 positive cases among students on and off campus, according to its dashboard.
In his message to students, Grigsby alluded to off-campus parties that seem to have a bearing on the numbers, particularly since Halloween.
“The rumors I hear about large, unsafe social gatherings have significantly increased in the last few days and I suspect many of those rumors are based in fact,” he wrote.
In his message, he pleaded for compliance for the sake of students’ families.
“I know many, if not all of us have COVID-19 fatigue. I have COVID fatigue,” he wrote. “But this worldwide pandemic doesn’t cater to our desires. And when we live in a community, the actions of a few can and do impact the actions of the larger group.”
