Students on the second and third floors of Crosby Hall say they are being told to quarantine in place after at least three people on each floor tested positive for COVID-19. While the UM COVID-19 dashboard states that on-campus quarantine beds are at 58.6% availability, it is unclear if the university is offering quarantine housing to the Crosby residents.
Elena Ossoski, a freshman English education major and Crosby second floor resident, decided to quarantine with her friend who has a house in Oxford, rather than stay in Crosby.
“The email was very vague but our community assistants clarified that our options were to leave campus or quarantine in our rooms,” Ossoski said, adding that she was not offered quarantine housing when student housing called her at around noon today.
Director of Student Housing John Yaun sent an email yesterday to students on the second floor of Crosby that said they needed to quarantine because four members of the floor tested positive.
The email says that the students will receive a call from student housing in the next business day to discuss their quarantine options.
“We encourage you to consult with your family to consider your options for quarantine, including returning to your family residence,” the email reads, adding that if students need to “consider other options,” they must quarantine in their room until they are contacted by student housing.
However, emails from the university to quarantined residents of Martin Hall earlier this week said their options were to return home, relocate to somewhere off-campus or stay in quarantine housing provided by the university. The email sent to Crosby residents did not include these choices, instead stating that student housing will call them to discuss their options.
The UM COVID-19 dashboard shows 53 student housing residents in quarantine, 16 in isolation and 11 outbreaks in on-campus housing. The Daily Mississippian has confirmed that the third and tenth floors of Martin Hall, the male wing of the fifth floor of Residence Hall 3 and the second and third floors of Crosby Hall, have been directed to quarantine. These spaces can house a total of up to 39, 94 and 168 students respectively.
It remains unclear if the numbers on the COVID-19 dashboard refer to the total number of quarantined students from on-campus housing or only the number of quarantined students who chose to stay in university-specified quarantine housing.
University communications did not respond to requests for comment about if students in Crosby Hall are being offered quarantine housing or clarification about the COVID-19 dashboard numbers by time of publication.
