With over 170 confirmed cases of the coronavirus (COVID-19) in the State of New York, as of this morning, the President’s Office has announced an official school shutdown in what they are calling a “preemptive Coronavirus plan.”

After many days of a rumored school closing, the first sign of an announcement came from journalism professor Paul Glader tweeting the news during yesterday’s faculty meeting.

Glader’s tweet alerted the King’s community one hour and 15 minutes before the official President’s Office email was to students, staff and faculty. This caused the news to spread before any details were released.

Glader defended himself, saying that the students deserved to be immediately notified and that during the meeting, many mentions were made that suggested the information needed to get out as soon as possible.

According to President Tim Gibson’s email yesterday, “a few” King’s students have reported flu-like symptoms and are self-isolating. However, at this time, there have yet to be any confirmed cases of the virus in the King’s community. Remote teaching will immediately go into effect today, Wednesday, March 11.

There have yet to be any confirmed cases of the virus in the King’s community. Remote teaching will immediately go into effect today. I I Photo courtesy of The President’s Office

Campus will be officially closing at the end of the day, and will not re-open until at least March 27. In-person teaching and campus activities will resume Monday, Mar. 30.

Campus closure includes the O’Keefe Student Union which will be closed until in-person classes resume on Mar. 30, and all King’s activities will be postponed and scheduled meetings with faculty or staff are expected to occur remotely.

The house election deadlines will be extended until Friday, April 3, according to Director of Student Development, Jonathan Schaeffer. Schaeffer has urged house leaders to conduct online house nominations if they had not already.

As Spring Break approaches, King’s administration is requiring that any student traveling out of the country will need to fill out a travel registry form through the college, and any students who travel to high-risk COVID-19 areas must self-quarantine off-campus on their own dime for 14 days upon return to school.

According to Megan Dishman, AVP of Marketing and Communications at King’s, the self-quarantining is mandated for all those who travel to current high-risk countries, symptomatic or not, based on CDC and U.S. travel advisories.

“Those [high-risk locations] could change over the spring break period, so we’re asking students, faculty, and staff to monitor the travel advisories and acknowledge their risk and quarantine requirements, should they choose to travel,” Dishman said.

With New Yorker’s stockpiling goods in fear of COVID-19, items like hand sanitizer, face masks and Lysol are experiencing significant price gouging. In certain places, hand sanitizer is being sold for hundreds of dollars due to its high demand. As a result, Governor Andrew Cuomo recently announced that the State of New York will begin making 100,000 gallons per week of its own hand sanitizer, “New York State Clean,” through the use of prison labor.

Governor Cuomo said to CNBC on Monday that if companies didn’t stop price gouging, the State of New York would introduce their “superior” product at a much cheaper price.

King’s begins remote teaching due to COVID-19 outbreak