CORNWALL – St. Lawrence College is taking swift action a day after Stormont-Dundas-Glengarry recorded its first confirmed case of novel coronavirus (COVID-19).
The woman in her 30s is from Prescott-Russell and showed up at Glengarry Memorial Hospital in Alexandria on Thursday, complaining of a cough and generalized pain. She had returned from a recent trip to New York City. The woman is at home under self-isolation and is improving, the health unit said Saturday.
In a letter this morning (March 15) to students and campus employees in Cornwall, obtained by Cornwall Newswatch, CEO Glenn Vollebregt says the Cornwall campus is closed effective immediately.
“A member of the SLC Cornwall campus community has tested positive for COVID-19 after returning from a recent trip to the United States. They were diagnosed at a local hospital, treated, and are at home under self-isolation,” Vollebregt wrote.
The campus is now closed – no employees, students or the general public are allowed into the building.
Vollebregt wrote that they are notifying Aultsville Theater and the River Institute as well.
A notice from Aultsville Theater Sunday afternoon said, as a tenant, it was following the lead of SLC management in closing.
— Aultsville Theatre (@aultsville) March 15, 2020
SLC students are also ordered to not attend placement until further notice as an “additional precautionary measure.”
“I would like to assure our community we are responding accordingly and are taking an abundance of caution,” the college president wrote.
No date has been chosen for when the campus will reopen.