KENT, Ohio — After the U.S. Department of State upgraded its warning against travel to China to the highest level because of the novel coronavirus, Kent State University is following suit by issuing temporary restrictions for all university-sponsored travel to China, the school confirmed in the statement Tuesday.
“At this time, there are no planned study abroad trips to China and no visitors are coming from China this semester, according to the Office of Global Education. In March, we will evaluate whether trips planned for the summer will be held,” said officials from Kent State in a statement.
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, there are now five confirmed cases of the 2019 novel coronavirus in the United Stated. The CDC says it confirmed additional travel-related infections of 2019-nCoV on Sunday, this time in Arizona and California.
The university said for personal travel, it strongly advises students, faculty and staff to follow travel alerts from the CDC and DOS. CDC recommends that travelers avoid all nonessential travel to China. The DOS recommends reconsidering travel to China.
Kent State said it will continue to provide updates to students and faculty members through University Health Services.
As always, the health and safety of our students, faculty, staff and visitors are our top priority. As a reminder, as with any communicable disease, public health officials recommend that the infected stay away from the healthy, and that the healthy wash their hands frequently.
Finally, many of our international students, faculty and staff may be very concerned about their families regarding the news they are hearing about the coronavirus. Please help your faculty, staff and students be mindful of the stresses our community members may be feeling and be sensitive to, and show, care for them.
Remember, Flashes Take Care of Flashes.
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