FIU Employee Has Coronavirus; Students Uneasy To Return To Campus

MIAMI, FL — Some Florida International University students said they were uneasy about returning to their campus dormitories this weekend after a school employee tested positive for the new coronavirus.

Classes were suspended at the university's two campuses earlier this month and instruction moved online as a precautionary measure to protect students from the possible spread of the new coronavirus. But in recent days, university officials told students who live in the dorms they would have to return by noon Friday or Sunday at the latest to clean out their belongings except in the case of special circumstances.

"Literally, they gave us a couple of days notice," explained 19-year-old Jen Betancourt, a sophomore and pre-med student from the Miami area.

"That’s just going to be a huge swarm of people panicking and a huge risk for everyone," insisted 20-year-old Britney Alvarado, who is also a sophomore from the Miami area.

FIU officials say the students can still practice social distancing when they arrive to remove their belongings and that the school employee who tested positive for the virus does not pose a threat to the university.

"I get it that people are nervous. People are scared," countered FIU spokesperson Maydel Santana. "We need you to understand that that is not necessarily a big concern. We need to be concerned and stay away from each other, absolutely."

Santana said the employee who is infected recently traveled outside the country on vacation and never returned to campus.

"In other words, when this person came back from vacation, this person was already feeling sick so there was no returning to the university," Santana told Patch.

Both students said the university should have allowed them to keep their belongings in their dorm room until the end of the semester on April 25 because they had paid for housing up until that time.

In an interview with Patch, Joe Paulick, associate vice president for academic and student affairs, acknowledged the email sent to students was "direct" but officials have since sent a follow-up letter offering the students more flexibility.

He estimated only about 100 students out of some 3,300 who live on campus had yet to collect their belongings as of Thursday. School officials felt students hadn't taken the threat from the new coronavirus seriously enough.

"Our population is one that needs to wake up and understand that this is affecting them as well," he said. "Young people think they are exempt from this."

Despite warnings to avoid large groups, he said students continued to socialize.

"We never thought that when we said 'students you need to stay away from each other. You need to just concentrate on your classwork,' I never thought I’d have to wake up in the morning and have basketball hoops and backboards taken down, volleyball nets taken down," Paulick shared. "They kept playing."

Alvarado and Betancourt also said the university should have refunded the unused portion of their housing payments in a timely fashion, something that Paulick said he is working on.

The women bristled at the offer by university officials to have their belonging packed for them by the university.

"You don’t know who those people are that are handling your items in your room," said Alvarado, who hopes to pursue a career in nursing. "If they’re sick, or even if they are infected and they don’t even know that they are carrying the disease, or if they are even treating your stuff with care or if they might steal something."

The students maintain that FIU should allow students to keep their belongings in their dorm rooms at least until the end of the semester for which they have paid.

"I think if the university can extend certain students to stay in housing, then they can certainly make sure that our things stay in our room," added Betancourt. "I don’t think that is too big of a request just until the end of the normal semester of what our contract says, and what we paid for."