Columbia Students Must Get Tested After COVID Found In Wastewater

MORNINGSIDE HEIGHTS, NY — Residents of two Columbia University dorms were told Monday afternoon that they must get COVID-19 tests after the virus was detected in the wastewater of the residence halls, according to a campus publication called Bwog Columbia Student News.

Any student living in the Broadway Residence Hall or the Wien Residence Hall who doesn't get tested will receive a "Compact violation," which could result in a student's removal from Columbia housing, school officials said in a note to students on Monday.

"The presence of Covid-19 has been detected in the wastewater of both Broadway Residence Hall & Wien Residence Hall through Columbia’s enhanced campus testing program," wrote university staff to residents of the two Columbia dorms. "You should have already scheduled a Covid-19 test for tomorrow, since Tuesday is Broadway Hall & Wien Hall’s assigned testing day. All Broadway & Wien residents currently on campus must be tested tomorrow."

According to the Bwog Columbia Student News report, the wastewater COVID-19 scare comes after two unconnected individuals entered a different campus residence hall on April 2 who later tested positive for COVID-10. However, there is no official connection between those positive cases and the wastewater positive tests.

Before moving into Columbia campuses, students had to agree to follow the Columbia Community Health Compact, which is a set of guidelines relating to COVID-19 safety. In that compact, it says that anyone who does not adhere to "these commitments after being asked to do so" will be "asked to leave Columbia's campus."