Duke issued stay-in-place order due to COVID outbreak. Here’s when it ends.
One week after instituting a stay-in-place order due to a surge in COVID-19 cases among its undergraduate students, Duke will relax those restrictions Sunday morning.
In a letter to students distributed Saturday, Duke administrators said the actions helped slow the virus’ spread enough to resume in-person classes.
“Last week, we asked all Duke undergraduates to stay-in-place for one week in order to stop the spread of COVID as quickly as possible,” the letter, signed by Duke administrators Mary Pat McMahon, Gary Bennett and John Blackshear, said. “THANK YOU for cooperating with our public health measures this week. The good news is that we’ve seen a decline in the number of undergraduate students testing positive for COVID.”
McMahon is Duke’s vice provost of student affairs while Bennett is the school’s vice provost of undergraduate education and Blackshear Duke’s dean of students.
The stay-in-place order took effect March 14 at midnight. On Tuesday, Duke announced it recorded 231 positive COVID-19 cases, including 211 among undergraduates, during the week of March 8-14. That number nearly eclipsed the 241 cases Duke had during the entire fall 2020 semester.
Duke tied the rise in cases to fraternities, which had been disaffiliated from the university, violating protocols by holding in-person rush events.
The stay-in-place order confined students to their residences other than to get food, exercise and a COVID-19 test. All in-person classes were moved to online with students even barred from attending labs in person.
Duke’s athletic teams were able to practice, with some restrictions in place and always under constant supervision from the coaching staff.
But at 9 a.m. on Sunday, most of those restrictions will be relaxed, including the reopening of the library and other campus buildings with common spaces.
Students living in campus housing are once again allowed to move around campus. But they are asked to remain on campus, only leaving for essential travel and wellness-related activities, through March 28.
Students living off campus are allowed to return to campus for in-person classes, as well as essential academic activities, surveillance testing, medical care at student health or for grab-and-go food orders at Duke’s Brodhead Center.
Duke’s guidance limits in-person gatherings, either on or off campus, to 10 or fewer people. Larger gatherings are only allowed if approved through the student events approval process.
“We have been so impressed with all the ways we’ve seen you rally to take care of yourselves and each other this week as we navigated the stay-in-place order,” the administrators wrote to the students. “Seriously. Great work. Let’s ensure we can finish out the semester strong.”
This story was originally published March 20, 2021 at 7:40 PM.