Notices telling Warwick students to self isolate have been put on the WRONG SIDE of halls doors

The notice was posted 24 hours late


Students have told The Warwick Tab about Warwick’s mishandling of students self-isolating in halls.

A group of students living in Westwood accommodation at the University of Warwick claim to have experienced multiple problems when being told to self-isolate. Warwick put their notice to isolate on the wrong side of their flat door, and the University informed students about needing to isolate 24 hours late.

The students alleged that communication to isolate has been unreliable and poorly coordinated. Students in a flat in Westwood were alerted to the need for them to self-isolate from 11th to 23rd October by a poster on the flat door. However, the poster was placed on the outside of the door, only visible for students returning to the flat.

“We hadn’t been emailed. We hadn’t been called. We had been given no information about what was happening,” they said.

The need for self-isolation was due to students in the other kitchen group within the flat going for Covid tests on the Sunday (11th). However, the poster was only put up on Monday 12th. Students claim the poster went up 24 hours late as the cleaners were not on shift to put up the notice.

When asked why they weren’t told sooner, the students told The Warwick Tab: “We were told that ‘the cleaners finish their shifts at 2:30, so there was no-one to put up the poster’”.

The tests returned positive on Wednesday 14th and those that tested positive were moved to a separate accommodation, as is policy for those with shared bathrooms (outlined here). However, the positive results have not been communicated to the rest of the flat by the University, say the students. “We found out through Snapchat, by talking to the people who got tested,” they said.

Sourced from Gov.uk

Central campus has seen a surge in cases recently, with the above map from gov.uk stating there have been 203 cases last week.

The Warwick website details the information and rules for self-isolation on campus in the coronavirus guidance, and in the Residential Life guidance.

The University has stated the following: “Any campus resident who requires help and support in any such situation can though contact the University Coronavirus helpline (02476523111) or raise their concerns with the Residential Life team.”

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