Most IU students living in the Inspire Living-Learning Center in Spruce Hall are quarantined either in Ashton Center or at home after a resident tested positive for COVID-19 on Saturday.
Contact tracers informed about 30 to 32 of the 38 LLC residents, who live on the first floor of the A wingin Spruce, to quarantine after being in close contact with the person, said sophomore Jason Nguyen, a peer leader of the LLC.
The Inspire LLC houses students with majors in the School of Education. Living-Learning Centers are residential community programs in residence halls designed for students to engage with peers of common academic or career interests. Each year in the Inspire LLC, peer tutors live on the same floor as the freshmen to offer them academic and emotional support and introduce them to IU.
This year, the LLC has 27 freshmen residents, 10 peer leaders and a residential assistant, said Katie Cierniak, assistant director of the Inspire LLC.
Cierniak said she doesn’t know the number of residents in the LLC who are under quarantine because of IU policy and restrictions from the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.
IU spokesperson Chuck Carney could not confirm the positive case or the number of people in quarantine.
“That is a small group within a residence hall and to do so would be to call out a small group in a large residence hall,” he said in an email. “Were the entire building quarantined, that would be a public health department directive and be a public matter.”
Some of the residents decided to go home to self-quarantine despite not being mandated to do so by contact tracers, said sophomore Courtney Mansfield, a peer leader at the LLC who is now quarantined in Ashton.
Nguyen said he recalled some also chose to self-quarantine in Ashton despite not being deemed as close contacts because they said it was the best for the floor.
Mansfield said the infected individual learned about the positive result from mitigation testing Saturday morning. She said at about 3 p.m. that day, all residents deemed as close contacts in the LLC received an email notifying them to quarantine.
She said between 5 and 9 p.m. each close contact received a call from IU’s contact tracers, giving them further instructions and asking them to choose between quarantining in Ashton or returning home for self-quarantine.
