University Canada West closes campuses amid coronavirus concerns

Mar 5 2020, 5:24 pm

A private university with campuses in Vancouver announced on Thursday morning that it is temporarily closing all its campuses today (March 5), as well as Friday and Saturday due to coronavirus concerns – specifically regarding one of its students.

In an email to students and obtained by Daily Hive, University Canada West (UCW) president Brock Dykeman says the university has “received news of a presumptive positive case for COVID-19 and the student is in isolation.”

In response, UCW is “taking proactive steps in closing all UCW campuses” for the next three days.

“We want to assure you that the risk to students, staff, and faculty remains low, but we want to take all possible precautions to ensure the health and safety of our students and faculty,” Dykeman says.

He advises students that their courses “will be delivered online for the remainder of the week,” and students can expect to hear from their professors “soon” regarding the details of their coursework.

Dykeman adds that at this point, the university said expects to fully re-open on Monday, “but we will update you as more information becomes available.”

On Wednesday afternoon, the 13th presumptive case of coronavirus was confirmed in BC.

Provincial Health Officer Bonnie Henry made the announcement on Wednesday afternoon, just 24 hours after she announced four new cases of COVID-19.

Eric ZimmerEric Zimmer

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