18 September 2020: Two students test positive at Aberdeen University. Evening Express.
22 September 2020: A different outbreak to the above: “A number of students staying at Aberdeen University accommodation have tested positive for coronavirus.” Evening Express.
22 September 2020: Hundreds of students to isolate at University of Abertay, after outbreak at Parker House, a privately owned halls of residence. Guardian. BBC. Abertay University.
22 September 2020: UCU state that “it has received reports of cases in every faculty of [Manchester Metropolitan University], with reports of multiple cases in the business school.” In response, “the university said it would only share anonymised cases on a weekly basis.” UCU.
22 September 2020: One confirmed case, two suspected, in Vijay Patel building, De Montfort University, Leicester. De Montfort UCU.
23 September 2020: “As of 9am on September 23 there have been a total of 30 covid-19 cases at Oxford Brookes over the last seven days.” Oxford Mail.
23 September 2020: Cases confirmed at the University of Exeter. Devon Live. ITV.
From last night’s debate in parliament, the only substantive mentions of universities:
Boris Johnson, after two minutes: The government will introduce new restrictions in England, carefully judged to achieve the maximum reduction in the R number with the minimum damage to lives and livelihoods. I want to stress that this is by no means a return to the full lockdown of March. We’re not issuing a general instruction to stay at home. We will ensure that schools, colleges, and universities stay open because nothing is more important than the education, health, and wellbeing of our young people. We will ensure that businesses can stay open in a COVID compliant way. However, we must take action to suppress the disease.
Boris Johnson, after 1 hour six minutes: Gentlemen, the most important thing is that the students who are now back at university in large numbers should, like everybody else, follow the guidelines. It’s also important, Mr. Speaker, where there are outbreaks in universities, that students should not be going home to infect their older relatives.
In other news: There’s a lot of student-blaming going on, but the police in Belfast say that the majority of warnings and fines have not been issued to students. BBC. Belfast Live.
Current tally:
15 Universities have reported coronavirus cases.
8 in England.
6 in Scotland.
1 in Wales.
