Students and faculty returning from Level 3 countries or high-risk areas must either self-isolate or self-monitor due to the recent spread of COVID-19, or the new coronavirus, the University announced in an update on its coronavirus site Friday.
Travel to Level 3 countries requires all faculty and students "to self-isolate for 14 days," the update said.
Currently, this includes China, Iran, South Korea, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Monaco, San Marino and Vatican City, according to the update.
Faculty are expected to communicate this travel to their supervisors, while students are asked to contact ASU Health Services. All employees and students are required to self-monitor their symptoms if they are returning from high-risk areas.
The University has defined high-risk areas as travel by cruise ships, all travel by air and any travel to Washington, California, Florida and London.
The update states that if any member of the ASU community has traveled to these areas, and begins to show symptoms, they are required to self-isolate as well.
The guidelines only apply if travelers have been to either Level 3 countries or high-risk areas since March 1.
ASU also announced in the update that all University and grant-funded travel is now prohibited and that all events not related to education or research are canceled.
"For the next 30 days, all events on any ASU campus or in any ASU building that are not directly related to the educational or research mission of the university are canceled in order to limit the community spread of COVID-19," the website says. "Before attending a previously scheduled event on an ASU campus or in an ASU building, please check with the event organizer or look for an update online."
The University recognizes the conditions in the surrounding community and asks that all employees contact their supervisors to create more flexible schedules, to ensure employees can take care of situations the spread of coronavirus may lead to, like taking care of children whose school has been canceled or family members who are sick, according to the update.
These new guidelines follow the University's announcement to transition all in-person classes, where possible, to online formats, effective March 16.
Arizona has had nine cases of COVID-19, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services. Three of these cases have been confirmed by the CDC, the other six are presumptive positives, meaning they are awaiting confirmation from the CDC.
The state has currently tested 143 people. Forty of the cases are pending and 94 have been ruled out.
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.
