Category Archives: Confidential Reports

Confidential Reports, 23 September 2020.

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So far I have received reports, made confidentially, of covid-19 outbreaks at five universities:

Birmingham: at least one positive test.

Exeter: confirmed on Streatham Campus, awaiting results of tests on Penryn campus. This has now been reported via Devon Live and ITV.

Newcastle University: 22 students and 8 staff have tested positive. Confirmed through recording of University meeting.

Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh: One student tested positive in the halls of residence. Now confirmed by Edinburgh live.

Queen Mary University, London. Multiple cases.

University of Kent, Canterbury. Two confirmed cases. Now confirmed by Kent Online.

Additionally, I have been informed that the outbreak at Manchester Metropolitan is worse than reported, or declared by the university, and that cleaning practices at Sunderland University are not as described by the Vice Chancellor.

Many thanks to those who have contacted us.

Updated 24 September 2020: We regret we cannot take any more private tips. We do not have the resources to follow them up, and we cannot afford to make mistakes on such a serious matter. See this post ‘Mea Culpa’ for a longer explanation.

if you know of an unreported outbreak, or are concerned about working conditions, in your university, contact your union!

Mea Culpa

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Earlier today, I was contacted with a report of an outbreak at a university.

I replied, saying I would post about it later today.

The correspondent then replied that I should not, that the report was fictional, and that they were checking my level of validation.

I was certainly wrong to reply so affirmatively, given that there were details that could have been checked, and other warning signs that this was not a valid report.

This site is basically a part-time and one-person operation, and (current) enthusiasm aside, I have neither the time, resources nor the necessary skills and contacts to follow up reports.

If you know of an unreported outbreak, or are concerned about working conditions, in your university. contact your union!

I have no complaints about being tested in this way, nor of being caught out. Certainly, I’m thankful that the test was revealed before I blundered into posting, and that it happened so soon in the development of this site.

For the record, of the personal reports I noted yesterday, three have since been validated by journalists, and none have (yet) been refuted. And this site will continue to monitor publicly reported outbreaks of covid at U.K. universities.

I say again, please, if you know of an unreported outbreak, or are concerned about working conditions, in your university. contact your union!