CCU to set up COVID-19 sick bay for students

CONWAY, S.C. (WMBF) - Coastal Carolina University is planning to set up a separate off-campus housing facility for any student living in campus housing who tests positive for COVID-19.

Vice President of Auxiliary Services at CCU Steve Harrison says the use of this facility will depend on where a student lives.

“So in a circumstance where a student living with us in University housing tests positive for COVID-19, there are a couple of different things that might happen,” Harrison said.

“If they live in an apartment community, and they have a private bedroom and private bathroom, they will isolate in place and their close contacts will quarantine in place,” he adds.

But for underclassmen students who share a room, the positive student will have to be transferred out of the dorm while they're positive.

“For those students who live in a more traditional residence hall, and therefore are sharing a bathroom with a few other students, those students will quarantine in place if they’re a close contact, but if they are a positive test, and are living in a traditional residence hall, they will isolate elsewhere and we’ll move them to a different location,” Harrison said.

And that different location is exactly what the University is trying to figure out now.

At today's board of trustees meeting, they said they were in negotiations in finding a building off campus that could house up to 100 students in isolation.

Students who live off campus will still be told to isolate, but they won't be moved to this facility.

But both on and off campus students will be able to take their classes online while in isolation. And while it won't be like a traditional dorm environment, Harrison says they'll be ways for students to have laundry services and meals while in isolation.

He says on top of the steps they’re putting in place to slow the spread, he says students need to take action.

“We’re asking folks to take on a large amount of personal responsibility,” Harrison adds.

During CCU’s Board of Trustees meeting Friday morning, the board approved granting authority to the administration to enter into four-month leases, each with renewable terms, with off-campus student housing properties near campus, effective Aug. 15 through Dec. 14, 2020, university spokesperson Martha Hunn said.

Board members discussed contractual details in executive session.

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