Possible COVID-19 Superspreader Event At Lake Forest College Dorm

LAKE FOREST, IL — At least 40 Lake Forest College students — including a majority of the men's hockey team — were in isolation or quarantine following a possible superspreader event in a dormitory, school officials said.

Twelve students tested positive for coronavirus and 28 others were quarantined due to close contact with a positive case, according to the school president.

Lake Forest College President Stephen Schutt said Wednesday in a message to students that COVID-19 remains a great threat to the college.

"Unfortunately, a number of students have not taken the threat seriously, and they are now in isolation or quarantine," Schutt said.

Schutt urged students to to abide by the school's new coronavirus code of conduct, the Forester Commitment, and warned students or teams found to have violated its rules would face discipline. No indoor social gatherings are allowed for the first two weeks of classes. Later phases of the college's re-entry plan permit masked, social distanced gatherings in some circumstances.

"The College has received clear information that a number of these students — and potentially others — violated the Forester Commitment by visiting each other’s residence hall rooms and gathering socially last Saturday night, January 30," he said. "The health costs for them are now all too evident."

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In-person classes at the college resumed this week after a first semester of remote instruction, with student athletes having arrived Jan. 18, new students moving in Jan. 28 and returning students coming back to residence halls over the weekend.

All students were set to receive a rapid test during check-in upon return to campus. All students, staff and faculty on campus are also set to be tested every other week. The college has also put together a team of more than two dozen contact tracers to investigate exposures.

"More than one student apparently believed that testing negative last Friday meant it was safe to gather with others on Saturday and ignore the rules in the Forester Commitment.," Schutt said.

"I want to correct that mistaken belief right away: a person can test negative on one day and test positive the next. A single negative test offers no guarantee: one could still be carrying the virus."

The college president warned the rest of the spring semester could be jeopardized if many more students need to be quarantined or isolated from one another.

"This state of affairs — in the first week of the semester — is deeply regrettable. Your desire to be with each other is completely understandable after the long periods you’ve experienced away from campus," he said. "But 12 students in isolation and another 28 in quarantine should be a warning for every student."