BLOOMSBURG, Pa. — During its first week of classes, Bloomsburg University is reporting its first student to test positive for COVID-19.
Classes began on Monday, and coincidentally, that's the same day the university learned one student caught the virus.
"I'm not too surprised. I know it's bound to happen. It's just something we have to live with now," Freshman Troy Athill said.
"I kind of knew it was coming," Sophomore Joe Morrone said.
"I'm not surprised, and in fact, I'm kind of surprised it didn't already happen as quickly," Sophomore Andrew Okolowski said.
The university said the student who tested positive lives in off-campus housing and they have been told to quarantine for ten days. Now, the university is sanitizing all of the areas on campus that the student visited.
"They will do a deep cleaning of all of those surfaces and make sure that it is safe for everyone to return to," Bloomsburg University Communications Director Tom McGuire said.
"I think the university itself is doing a good job, but there's only so much they can do," Okolowski said.
Students on campus are masked up, and signs on campus remind them it is a requirement to wear one.
Even though the university has urged students to take the virus seriously, there are still mixed emotions in the student body.
"I think some are and some aren't. Some are just like, I've been cooped up all summer. Let's rage. Others are like, yeah, I'm going to stay six feet apart," Morrone said.
"There's definitely a lot of students who come out every night to go partying, so that hasn't changed, unfortunately," Okolowski said.
This news comes after several students admitted to Newswatch 16 on Monday that they spent their first weekend back in town at crowded parties, despite warnings from the police.
In addition to this student testing positive for COVID-19, just last Friday, Bloomsburg University said one employee also caught the virus.
That employee has also been told to quarantine for ten days.