ASU has limited University travel to California, a University official said, and has required that all international University-related travel be approved by ASU officials, ASU’s coronavirus update page said.
The University official confirmed that three trips to California have been canceled or postponed. The first trip would have taken 250 ASU students to the Disneyland theme park, and another would have taken 85 students to Universal Studios. Both have been postponed.
Additionally, a Barrett, the Honors College field trip to San Francisco, scheduled for spring break, was canceled.
All ASU or grant-funded travel to countries deemed by the CDC as level two or three countries for cornavirus risk assessment levels, has been prohibited until further notice.
The countries prohibited include China, Iran, South Korea, Italy and Japan. Hong Kong has also been prohibited by the University, although it is currently not at a coronavirus risk level at stages two or three.
"ASU or grant-funded international travel to CDC level 2 and 3 countries and Hong Kong is prohibited until further notice," the update said. "All other international travel will require an explanation as to the essential nature of the travel and must be approved by the dean and provost or executive vice president/chief financial officer."
The University continues to encourage students and faculty to “avoid nonessential travel and seek alternative mechanisms to participate in conferences and professional meetings as much as possible” in an effort to limit the spread of COVID-19 in Arizona and the ASU community.
Zoom, the remote conferencing service that the University began testing in classes earlier this week, is a potential alternative for students to work remotely if the spread escalates.
READ MORE: ASU tests remote classes in response to growing coronavirus concerns
In the travel update, the University asked travelers with pre-booked, nonessential travel plans to contact the ASU Travel Office to work together on minimizing cancellation fees. The update added that any cancellation fees that cannot be canceled will be reimbursed.
The Arizona Department of Health Services announced a total two confirmed cases by the CDC, as well as three presumptive positive cases. A total of 56 people have been tested in Arizona, 44 have been ruled out and seven are pending results.
ADHS confirmed in a press release that the two new cases were from the same household as the previous case found in Pinal County yesterday. The cases are still being investigated by state and local health officials, the press release said.
At this time, none of the cases beyond the original case in Arizona are known to be affiliated with ASU.
Reach the reporter at wmyskow@asu.edu and follow @wmyskow on Twitter.
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Wyatt Myskow is the project manager at The State Press, where he oversees enterprise stories for the publication. He also works at The Arizona Republic, where he covers the cities of Peoria and Surprise.
