Three Penn students test positive for coronavirus after traveling abroad for spring break

Three Penn undergraduate students have tested positive for coronavirus.

Associate Provost and Chief Wellness Officer Benoit Dubé wrote in an email to the Penn community Monday afternoon that two of the positive coronavirus cases are away from campus and one is currently on campus. Dubé wrote that the student on campus was tested and diagnosed by Penn Medicine.

The on-campus student who tested positive is currently hospitalized but will be quarantined and cared for in an undetermined on-campus location upon release from the hospital, Dubé wrote.

Dubé wrote that the students were part of a group that traveled abroad together over spring break. He added that some of the members of that trip returned to campus last week, where they lived in close quarters and socialized with friends.

The University has since identified 20 additional students as having medium- to high-risk of exposure to the virus, Dubé wrote. He added that these students, most of whom are off-campus, must self-isolate.

On March 2, Dubé wrote in a University-wide email that students should rethink their spring break plans in light of the coronavirus outbreak. Fears of contracting the coronavirus or experiencing xenophobia prompted many Penn students to cancel their plans to travel abroad for spring break.

Student Health Service alerted more than 100 Penn students, faculty, and staff on March 12 that they may have been exposed to an individual with coronavirus. However, none of those affected were deemed high-risk.

The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania announced on March 9 that it is treating its first patient — a Montgomery County, Pa. resident — who tested positive for coronavirus.

Penn has taken several steps in response to the coronavirus outbreak. Provost Wendell Pritchett announced on March 10 that all University-related travel would be suspended. On March 11, the University announced that spring classes would be held online for the remainder of the semester and that students must move off campus by March 15. An email sent the next day extended the mandatory move-out date to March 17.