NORFOLK, Va. — Old Dominion University says it has created places to allow students to quarantine if they have tested positive or have been exposed to the coronavirus.
Don Stansberry, ODU's Vice President of Student Engagement and Enrollment Services, said school leaders have created quarantine housing to keep students safe as they learn.
"We keep students that are positive in one building and students exposed in another. Meals are brought to them, single occupancy style, they have class needs covered, basic needs covered," Stansberry said, describing the unique and thorough hospitality.
The move comes as part of Old Dominion's on-campus testing system, which also includes a lab partially staffed by students from the College of Health Sciences.
It's not your everyday hotel and checkout is surely the best part, but that didn't make some of the building's most recent residents any less thankful for the hospitality.
"The school had prepared so well, so we didn't miss a beat," said head basketball coach Jeff Jones as his Old Dominion Monarchs suspended their season following a positive COVID test within the team. So like any other student, they immediately moved into the quarantine housing.
"All of our guys that lived on campus moved into ODU housing for quarantine, those who were exposed but did not test positive went into one facility, those who tested positive moved into another," described Jones.
That meticulous approach should provide the Monarchs enough players to continue their season on February 5 against Marshall, with those who did not test positive resuming practice on Saturday.