COVID-19 at colleges: Fauci warns not to send students home – NBC News
There are thousands of COVID-19 cases at colleges and universities nationwide.
Only a few weeks into fall semester, colleges and universities across the country are urgently trying to control clusters of COVID-19 infections on their campuses. Thousands of cases have been reported nationwide, forcing universities to switch to virtual classes and either quarantine or, in some cases, send students back home whether or not they’re sick.
The situation has become serious enough that Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious disease expert, is urging colleges: If at all possible, do not send students home.
“It’s the worst thing you could do,” he said Wednesday on NBC’s “TODAY” show. “When you send them home, particularly when you’re dealing with a university where people come from multiple different locations, you could be seeding the different places with infection,” said Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
On Monday, Dr. Deborah Birx, coordinator of the White House coronavirus task force, cautioned governors on a call that college students could become a source of outbreaks beyond campuses.