BLUEFIELD, VA (WOAY) – Bluefield College is asking their students to avoid traveling during the upcoming holiday weekend.
A three day weekend is a typical time for college students to take a quick vacation and do some traveling, but this year’s Labor Day weekend is likely going to look different for the college crowd.
Bluefield College in Tazewell County has recently asked their students to avoid travel completely during the holiday weekend, as they’re trying to avoid another outbreak. According to the vice president of institutional advancement Joshua Kline, they’re still recovering from a recent one that originated when football players traveled to Radford.
“It’s been an adventure, we had an outbreak a few weeks ago. We’re coming off of that. We have less than 20 students in quarantine and isolation now, and they’re coming out of that process everyday testing negative,” Kline said.
That outbreak led to 27 positive cases, with more than 70 students having to quarantine while they awaited test results. To prevent another scenario like this, school officials are asking all their students to avoid the temptation, and just stay on campus this weekend.
“Traveling provides the opportunity for exposure to the virus, so the more that we can limit that exposure, the better it will be for maintaining for what we’re trying to call our bubble. Although that bubble is never going to be perfect or impervious, we want to provide as safe an environment for our students as possible.”
Bluefield College isn’t the only one dealing with outbreaks and asking their student body to follow guidelines. Earlier this week WVU had large student gatherings involving hundreds of students. Now, these colleges are hoping their communities come together to help each other out by following basic safety precautions.
“What we’ve told our students, and I think it applies for all of us, is that really we’re all in this together. There’s no discrimination at all when it comes to this virus. So we’ve all got to do our part, we’ve all got to be responsible.”
Of the 500 on-campus students, only about 20 are still isolating while they await test results at Bluefield College.
