PROVIDENCE – Two local colleges on Tuesday announced cancellations of school-sponsored international travel programs during spring break in the wake of the growing COVID-19 epidemic across the world.
Meanwhile, Rhode Island officials Tuesday night said results for a third person who has been tested for the coronavirus came back negative. The woman, in her 30s, developed respiratory symptoms and a fever after traveling with students and chaperones on a school-sponsored trip to Europe last month.
Two other participants on the trip, a teenage girl and a man in his 40s, tested positive for COVID-19 at R.I. Department of Health’s State Health Laboratories.
All three traveled to Italy from Feb. 14 – 22 as part of a 38-person trip organized by Saint Raphael Academy.
Roger Williams University said that it made the “difficult decision” to cancel all university-sponsored international travel during RWU’s upcoming spring break, based on the latest advisories on international student travel from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This decision follows the university’s suspension of the study-abroad program with ISI Florence in Italy and have started bringing students back to Rhode Island.
Roger Williams University said the students returning from Italy will “return to their homes” and the university is advising them to “self-quarantine,” per CDC recommendations.
It is unclear how many students or staff from Roger Williams University are affected by the cancellations or how many are being brought back from studying abroad. The university did not immediately respond to a request for additional comment.
Providence College announced that it is canceling spring break travel programs to Europe and Latin America after “careful consideration of all relevant factors.” The college is also suspending school-sponsored international faculty and/or staff travel through March.
Providence College said there are 44 students currently studying in Italy. However, PC spokesperson Madeline Paramenter said that students studying in Florence are being told to fly back to Fairfield, Conn., to finish their studies. Eight students were studying in Milan, Italy, half of them returned to the U.S., Paramenter said. The students studying in Rome are told that all of their coursework is online, and are being asked to remain in Rome to finish their work, Paramenter said.
Other local colleges made similar decisions late last week and Monday in addressing the coronavirus situation.
In East Greenwich, Meadowbrook Farm School was closed Tuesday “out of an abundance of caution,” East Greenwich Interim Superintendent Frank Pallotta wrote in an email to parents.
Pallotta said the elementary school’s principal was informed by a parent who recently traveled abroad that one of their children “woke up sick with a fever and cough.” The child that fell ill does not attend school in East Greenwich, but the sibling is a Meadowbrook student and has no symptoms, Pallotta said.
RIDOH was contacted “immediately,” Pallotta said, and the family also spoke directly with the doctor on call at the department. He also said cleaning protocols took place at Meadowbrook Tuesday morning as advised by RIDOH.
No Meadowbrook students or staff are being monitored for coronavirus, Pallotta said.
(Updates second paragraph to ADD negative test results.)
James Bessette is the PBN special projects editor, and also covers the nonprofit and education sectors. You may reach him at Bessette@PBN.com. You may also follow him on Twitter at @James_Bessette. Elizabeth Graham is a PBN staff writer. You may reach her at Graham@PBN.com.