Spring Break Travel Advisory/Coronavirus
A message to the campus community
As we head into the start of Spring Break later this week, a number of students from our main campus as well as those studying abroad will be traveling to locations across the United States and throughout the world. At this time, we would like to provide an advisory for all students in terms of precautions to take at home and abroad. First, and foremost, we would like to remind everyone to practice basic hygiene, specifically hand hygiene such as washing your hands for at least 20 seconds with soap and water before eating or after going to the bathroom, coughing or sneezing. It is also suggested that you travel with a bottle of hand sanitizer. In the event that you are traveling through major international airports (i.e. JFK in New York), you might consider wearing a face mask in the airport and possibly even on the plane.
At this point in time, China remains the only country that the US State Department has issued a “Do Not Travel” advisory with regards to the Novel coronavirus, COVID-19. In monitoring other areas of recent reported outbreaks, there has been a spike in cases in South Korea and parts of Northern Italy including Milan and Venice and for those reasons we are suggesting that any students planning to travel to those areas try to alter their itinerary. The State Department is also advising those traveling to Hong Kong or Japan to exercise increased precautions.
For those traveling outside of the country either during break or in the near future, it is advised that you register in the State Department’s STEP program so that you can be up to date on all advisories that are issued. The link to register is: https://step.state.gov/
As further information becomes available and if the State Department issues any further travel advisories, we will make this information available to our campus community.
Larry Wielk
Dean of Students