Connecticut universities lay out reopening plans including COVID-19 testing, reduced classroom sizes

Connecticut universities laid out their reopening plans Tuesday, but many students still have a lot of questions on how they will be going back to school.

News 12 Staff

Jul 14, 2020, 9:07 PM

Updated 1,764 days ago

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Connecticut universities laid out their reopening plans Tuesday, but many students still have a lot of questions on how they will be going back to school.
Anthony Rokosa, a former firefighter, is heading back to Central Connecticut State University this fall for music. He says COVID-19 has turned his plans upside down.
"I have no idea what's happening with school. I've sent all my transcripts and my paperwork in," he says.
At UConn, classrooms will be limited to one-third capacity. Dorms will only be half-filled, and all residents will be subject to COVID-19 testing.
"We will remove that student. They will be placed in isolation," says UConn Dean of Students Elly Daugherty on if a student tests positive for the virus. "They will have meals delivered to them. They will be monitored by Student Health through a telemedicine model."
At state schools, like WestConn, commuter students will not be tested. But, that could change.
"I think unless you're going to test students daily, testing them once in a while or upon entry into a campus at the beginning of the year, really does not make a lot of sense," says CT State Colleges and Universities President Mark Ojakian.
Colleges say shutting down is a last resort. They say it would only happen if a COVID-19 outbreak got so big that they could no longer isolate infected students.
Rokosa says he isn't taking any chances and would rather take online classes.
Connecticut's universities say they're still trying to find a health care provider to run thousands of COVID-19 tests on students.