KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas, may need to quarantine its entire student body under orders from the county health department.
Steve Johnson, communications director for the college, said the Atchison County Health Department is expected to make a decision on any possible quarantine orders on Thursday afternoon.
Johnson said it’s likely that any order from the health department will go into effect on Friday morning, though he said those details are still unclear.
On Wednesday, the health department said it was considering a plan to quarantine all Benedictine College students for 14 days due to a rise in COVID-19 cases, according to a report from the Atchison Globe.
As of Thursday, the college has 37 confirmed active COVID-19 cases both on- and off-campus. According to Johnson, that represents 1.5% of the school’s population.
Johnson said college officials presented a compromise to the health department, where off-campus students would be required to quarantine and take online classes while students who live on-campus could continue in-person classes.
School officials were surprised Wednesday by the possibility of a quarantine, Johnson said, because the health department had said a 1-3% positivity rate was to be expected.
The initial order was temporarily delayed after Benedictine College President Stephen Minnis raised concerns that the plan was too restrictive, according to the Atchison Globe.
