Nearly a dozen students at Liberty University in Virginia reported symptoms similar to those of coronavirus, with three sent to the hospital for testing, the school's director of student health services told The New York Times over the weekend.
However, no cases of the coronavirus have been confirmed on campus.
Liberty's President Jerry Falwell Jr. last week invited students back to campus after spring break in a controversial decision, telling The News & Advance that "I think we have a responsibility to our students — who paid to be here, who want to be here, who love it here — to give them the ability to be with their friends, to continue their studies, enjoy the room and board they've already paid for and to not interrupt their college life."
Following the criticism, students returning to campus were told to self-quarantine for 14 days. Some 800 of the 1,900 students who already returned to campus dorms for spring semester have gone back home, Falwell told the Times.
Falwell announced on Friday that those who wanted to withdraw from classes would get a $1,000 credit toward next year's fees.
This decision came after Dr. Thomas Eppes Jr., the director of student health services, told Falwell that the university had "lost the ability" to control the virus.
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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