Trinity has its first confirmed case of the coronavirus, the College announced tonight.
In an email sent to staff and students tonight, Provost Patrick Prendergast wrote that the College was informed of a positive case of coronavirus “late on Thursday night”.
“We are now working closely with the authorities to ensure that this individual receives the best care possible”, Prendergast said.
“The HSE will trace anyone who has been in contact with the infected individual to ensure they receive any necessary medical attention”, he said.
“The HSE and University will now take all appropriate steps to contain any further spread of the virus and protect your welfare and the welfare of the University community.”
“The relevant part of the University (Floor 4 of the Trinity Biomedical Sciences Institute), and the lifts in TBSI, have been closed as a precautionary measure and will be cleaned in accordance with HSE guidelines.”
Earlier today, The University Times reported that final-year medicine students could be forced to take crucial clinical assessments a month before they were scheduled to, due to ongoing fears about the threat of the coronavirus.
Students were told that their clinical exams, worth up to 50 per cent of their grade this year, may begin in 11 days time.
The exams were due to take place in the week of April 20th.
In an email statement to The University Times, Prof Joseph Hardiman, the director of undergraduate teaching and learning in the School of Medicine, wrote: “Nobody’s been moved anywhere yet but It’s likely we’re going to have to hold the clinical exams early and the most likely week is from 16th to 21st of March.”
However, he added, “this is dependent on us being able to organize an acceptable exam in that timescale”.
“The problem is that if the hospitals are working overtime to deal with sick people in April”, he said, adding that “we won’t be able to run an exam for practical and safety reasons, but we’re still going to need graduate doctors in July”.
“So we may need to modify our approach, get a clinical exam out of the way with the full understanding that the students may not be as prepared as they’d want, and hold their written exam later in April.”
The move comes as Trinity plans a raft of contingency plans to deal with the threat of the coronavirus. Last night, the HSE announced four more cases of the illness in the west of Ireland, bringing the total number in the Republic of Ireland to six.
The University Times reported last night that the fate of this year’s Trinity Ball could be up in the air, after the College left open the possibility that it could be shut down if the HSE advises it.
Trinity “will not be making any decisions regarding mass gatherings and closures”, and will follow the recommendations of the HSE’s Health Protection Surveillance Centre on any gatherings, Thomas Deane, a media relations officer in Trinity, wrote in an email statement to The University Times.
Deane also told The University Times that “Trinity is continuing to explore options for the online delivery of course content and assessments, as well as considering a range of other accommodations that may be put in place to ensure that our students are able to complete their studies for this academic year”.
Deane said that a working group set up in the College to monitor the situation, which previously met weekly, has begun meeting twice a week “as the situation evolves”.
Trinity is sharing information on posters around the College, and has set up a page on its website with the latest updates.
“The expert working group is actively devising contingency plans for a variety of scenarios in the college”, Deane wrote.
