New York University has placed all residents and employees in one of its dormitories under mandatory quarantine after reporting several positive cases of the novel coronavirus.
NYU officials said in an update shared on the school's website Monday that six out of approximately 400 students living at Rubin Hall recently tested positive for COVID-19, prompting the entire dorm to go into lockdown since the weekend.
"We have isolated all the students with positive findings and quarantined their close contacts, in line with our protocols," the statement read. "Out of an abundance of caution, we are also retesting all residents of Rubin Hall (and employees, too), and instructed them on Saturday to begin quarantining until at least Tuesday night."
"We hope to have the results of Monday’s tests back by Tuesday evening and can evaluate, in consultation with the City’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, what steps to take after that, which may well include extending the quarantine," the update continued.
University spokesperson John Beckman said in a statement on Saturday that the school is "arranging for meals and other supports for the quarantining students."
"All of NYU’s courses this fall 2020, regardless of whether they meet in person, are structured to have the capacity for students to attend remotely, so students will be able to keep up with their studies," Beckman said. "The University is committed to the health and safety of its students, and has and will continue to communicate regularly with the students and with their families."
NYU began ongoing testing for students in residence halls last week, according to officials. The school started testing for the first cohort of non-resident students and employees this week.
The FDA-authorized tests are self-administered.
NYU has reported a total of 65 positive cases of coronavirus since since Aug. 1, according to data from the school's COVID-19 dashboard.
Forty-eight of those cases were reported between Aug. 28 and Sept. 11.
As of Tuesday, there have been more than 6,602,200 cases of COVID-19 and 195,100 deaths from coronavirus-related illnesses in the United States, according to a New York Times database.
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