UPDATE: After testing all residents, zero additional cases were found in the residence hall. Residents of Gibbons were permitted to leave the building starting Wednesday morning.
After identifying 17 positive cases in Gibbons dormitory since Feb. 3, the University has asked all 213 residents to remain in their rooms for at least 24 hours starting Monday night so that they can conduct an additional round of testing to determine the extent of the viral spread. No additional cases were found after the University conducted testing of the residence hall.
During this 24-hour period, residents of Gibbons will be provided breakfast, lunch and dinner, as well as enhanced personal protective equipment. Residents who test positive for COVID-19 will be moved to isolation housing, and close contacts of those who test positive will be moved to quarantine housing.
The University identifies potential outbreaks of COVID-19 in residence halls through its wastewater testing program, as well as its mandatory prevalence testing program. Students living in the Charlottesville and Albemarle area this semester are required to report for saliva screening once per week — if a student fails to comply, they are subject to sanctions that increase in severity each time.
During the fall semester, the University selected five residence halls — Balz-Dobie, Kellogg, Echols, Lefevre and Hancock — for prevalence testing after positive cases were identified.
As of Monday afternoon, the University’s COVID-19 Tracker reports 360 total cases of COVID-19 this spring, 95 of which are active — a .48 percent 7-day positivity rate. Seventy-eight of those active cases are students while the remaining 17 are faculty and staff.
The tracker also reports that 12 percent of quarantine housing is currently occupied while 4 percent of isolation housing is currently occupied.
This article has been updated.
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