YU to Close Through End of Week as Coronavirus Cases Increase
Classes will be canceled at Yeshiva University through at least Sunday, March 15, The Commentator has learned, as the coronavirus continues to spread in New York.
On Friday, a Sy Syms School of Business professor told their students that they were diagnosed with the virus, though as of the time of publication, the university has not notified the student body or the YU community of this information. Rabbi Reuven Fink, a professor in YU’s Isaac Breuer College (IBC), tested positive for the coronavirus last week, the university announced in a tweet past midnight on Friday.
The Syms professor who tested positive attended last week’s AIPAC Policy Conference in Washington, D.C., including an event for YU alumni and students. “At that conference, I now know that I [shook] someone’s hand that has now tested positive,” the professor wrote. The professor went to get tested last week, and the results came back positive for coronavirus. As a result, the professor will remain in self-quarantine for 14 days. “I have the mildest of flu-like symptoms,” the professor said, adding that no students have been exposed, as the professor has not been on campus since prior to their exposure to the virus.
On Friday afternoon, just minutes before Shabbat, AIPAC announced in a tweet that “at least two Policy Conference attendees from New York have tested positive for the coronavirus.” The Washington D.C. Health Department said in a statement that “there is no identified risk to conference attendees at this time” as the two AIPAC participants with the coronavirus were asymptomatic during the time they were in the nation’s capital.
The university previously announced that classes and events would be canceled through Purim. News of the continued closure until Monday, March 16 was initially told to resident advisors and student council presidents. As of the time of publication, the university has not informed the student body of this update. It was not immediately clear whether the university plans for in-person classes to resume next week, or if online classes will take the place of campus-based lectures.
Classes have been canceled since Wednesday, March 4, due to the diagnosis of a student with the coronavirus.
This is a developing story.
