圣母院大学的官员敲响了警钟，并限制了集会的规模。此前，新冠肺炎与政党有关的案件激增。
印第安纳州南本德的学校本周发现阳性病例“显著增加”，该校校长约翰·詹金斯牧师在周四的视频讲话中说，“主要是由于过去周末的社会活动。”
截至10月7日，在过去一周平均少于五个新病例后，该大学据报告的一周后，10月14日，31个新病例，促使詹金斯的地址。截至周五，新病例的平均7天为11例。
芝加哥论坛报/TNS通过盖蒂图像
印第安纳州南本德圣母大学校园里的学生。2020年8月23日。
学校官员注意到了阳性病例的“令人担忧”的趋势，以及本周通过接触追踪发现的密切接触者的数量。在一个给学生的信周四，负责学生事务的副总裁艾琳·霍夫曼·哈定(Erin Hoffmann Harding)和负责校园安全和大学运营的副总裁迈克·谢蒙(Mike Seamon)表示，“每例阳性病例的密切接触者人数也大幅增加，多达10至15名密切接触者需要隔离。”
他们还指出，许多此类案件与“上周末的大型聚会和集会”有关。
圣母院一周前主场迎战佛罗里达州立大学。官员告诉记者，学校没有发现任何与参加比赛有关的案例，尽管在校外也发现了南本德论坛。
哈定和谢蒙指出，这种激增遵循了非正式聚会规模的宽松规则。为了应对最近阳性病例的增加和需要隔离的接触者的数量，学校现在将非正式聚会的人数限制在20到10人。
官员们还敦促学生戴上口罩，保持社交距离，定期洗手，参加新冠肺炎检测，避免去无视社交距离规定的酒吧和餐馆。他们说:“圣约瑟夫县卫生部门关注当地的趋势，他们相应地加大了执法力度。”。
截至周六，七天阳性率为1.6%，周三跃升至4.1%。这与该校8月份在校外爆发疫情时出现两位数的阳性率和每天数十个新病例的情况相去甚远，这引发了一场两周的校园封锁加大纪律处分力度。
离秋季学期结束还有一个多月，看来学校这次不想冒险了。
“我理解在COVID的限制下度过漫长的一个学期后，我们都感到厌倦，这可能会导致我们在社交时松懈。然而，如此多的人如此努力地让我们走到这一步，”詹金斯在他的视频讲话中说。“我们已经走了很长的路，我们只有几周的时间了。让我们以强结束。”
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詹金斯补充说，“如果你犯了错误，我当然也犯了，让我们承认错误，并决心做得更好”——这是对他最近因上月在白宫活动中的行为而受到批评的认可。
9月26日，詹金斯在玫瑰园参加SCOTUS提名仪式时，在照片和视频中没有戴面具或社交距离。他为自己的行为向圣母院社区和大学的学生评议会道歉通过一项决议上周“正式反对”詹金斯“违反大学”卫生政策。
詹金斯随后与唐纳德·特朗普总统、第一夫人梅兰妮·特朗普、新闻秘书凯莉·麦克纳尼、前新泽西州长克里斯·克里斯蒂等人一起，成为十多名新冠肺炎检测呈阳性的与会者之一。他从此没有任何症状，结束了与世隔绝的大学生活宣布的本周早些时候。
Notre Dame sounds alarm, limits gatherings after spike in COVID cases tied to parties
Officials at the University of Notre Dame are sounding the alarm -- and limiting the size of gatherings -- after a recent spike in COVID-19 cases tied to parties.
The South Bend, Indiana, school saw a "significant increase" in positive cases this week, Rev. John Jenkins, the university's president, said in a video address Thursday, "mostly due to social activity over the past weekend."
After averaging fewer than five new cases for the past week as of Oct. 7, the universityreported31 new cases a week later, on Oct. 14, prompting Jenkins' address. As of Friday, the seven-day average for new cases was 11.
Students on the campus at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind. on Aug. 23, 2020.
School officials noted a "concerning" trend in positive cases as well as the number of close contacts identified through contact tracing this week. In aletter to studentson Thursday, Vice President for Student Affairs Erin Hoffmann Harding and Vice President for Campus Safety and University Operations Mike Seamon said that the "number of close contacts for each positive case has also increased substantially, with as many as 10 to 15 close contacts needing to quarantine."
They also noted that many of these cases were tied to "larger parties and gatherings last weekend."
Notre Dame played Florida State University at home a week ago. The university didn't find any cases in the spike tied to attending the game, though it did off campus, officials told theSouth Bend Tribune.
The spike followed relaxing rules around the size of informal gatherings, Harding and Seamon noted. To combat the recent increase in positive cases and the number of contacts needing to quarantine, the school is now restricting informal gatherings from groups of 20 to 10.
The officials also urged students to wear masks, socially distance, wash their hands regularly, participate in surveillance COVID-19 testing and avoid bars and restaurants where social distancing rules are ignored. "The St. Joseph County Health Department is concerned about local trends, and they have increased their enforcement efforts accordingly," they said.
As of Saturday, the seven-day positivity rate was 1.6%, after jumping to 4.1% on Wednesday. It's a far cry from when the school saw double-digit positivity rates and dozens of new cases each day amid off-campus outbreaks in August, prompting atwo-week campus lockdownand increased disciplinary action.
It appears the school doesn't want to take any chances this time, with the end of the fall semester a little more than a month away.
"I understand the weariness we all feel after a long semester under COVID restrictions, and this can lead to laxity as we socialize. Yet so many have worked so hard to bring us to this point," Jenkins said in his video address. "We have come a long way, and we have just weeks to go. Let's finish strong."
Jenkins added that "if you made mistakes, as I certainly have, let us own the mistakes and resolve to do better going forward" -- a nod to the criticism he recently faced over his behavior during a White House event last month.
Jenkins was seen in photos and videos not wearing a mask or social distancing while attending the SCOTUS nomination ceremony in the Rose Garden on Sept. 26. He issued an apology to the Notre Dame community for his behavior, and the university's student senatepassed a resolutionlast week "formally disapproving" of Jenkins' "violations of university" health policy.
Jenkins subsequently was one of over a dozen attendees to test positive for COVID-19, along with President Donald Trump, first lady Melania Trump, press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and others. He has since been symptom-free and ended his isolation, the universityannouncedearlier this week.
