Residents of two Columbia University residential halls should immediately undergo COVID-19 testing after the virus is detected in a building’s sewage water, a campus outlet said.
Those who refuse to be screened could be expelled from campus, officials said in a note from Monday.
“The presence of Covid-19 has been detected in the wastewater from both Broadway Residence Hall and Wien Residence Hall through Columbia’s enhanced on-campus testing program,” school staff wrote Monday.
More municipalities are testing sewage to monitor the prevalence of COVID-19 among specific populations.
Bergen County, which began testing wastewater in partnership with Columbia last year, reported elevated coronavirus levels in the sewage water on Tuesday, according to a report.
Columbia’s latest coronavirus alert went off after two people tested positive for the virus at another campus residence last week.
“If a student chooses not to follow Colombia’s requirements, he endangers both the well-being of the community and his own privilege of living on campus,” the note states. “Students who violate the Columbia Community Health Compact and the testing requirement will be referred to Dean’s Discipline, which could lead to the loss of campus homes.”
Students must sign a ‘compact’ outlining the coronavirus-related practices on the Manhattan campus.
These include “participation in testing and contact finding as needed, and isolation and quarantine protocols as required,” the document said.
