Residents in Trinity Hall could be banned from hosting overnight guests for a two-week “circuit breaker” period to curb the spread of coronavirus in the complex.
Two members of College’s COVID-19 management group confirmed to this newspaper that a proposal was tabled at a meeting today to temporarily ban overnight guests in Halls amid concerns surrounding rising case numbers in Ireland and isolation arrangements for residents.
Arrangements for students who have to isolate to move off campus for their isolation period have also been mooted.
The proposal will be brought to the Trinity Living With COVID group on Thursday, and will be signed off by the Provost’s Office if approved.
The Halls JCR committee have not yet been consulted on the proposal. In a statement to The University Times, JCR President Eva Craig said: “We understand that the College are considering increasing restrictions in Trinity Halls after an outbreak in cases. The JCR have been working closely with the Students Union to ensure that residents’ concerns have been raised.”
“However, as representatives for Halls residents, we will need to be directly consulted before any final decision is made. We would urge any students who are concerned about these changes to reach out to the JCR committee. As always, the JCR is working to preserve the welfare of residents and to amplify their voices.”
Trinity’s Director of Communications Tom Molloy told The University Times in an email: “We are watching with concern as COVID rates rise everywhere in Ireland. If this continues, we may well have to tighten some regulations temporarily. As of Tuesday, there has been no change to the recent relaxation in rules around overnight guests in College accommodation.”
“However all rules could be made stricter depending on circumstances in College or changes to rules at national level”, Molloy said.
Public health officials in Ireland have expressed growing concerns about coronavirus case numbers in Ireland in recent weeks. Over 44,000 people have tested positive for the virus here in the last 14 days.
Last week, The University Times reported that upcoming graduation ceremonies will be limited to 60 per cent capacity as a result of the recent deterioration of the pandemic in Ireland.
In an email statement to The University Times at the time, Trinity Media Relations Officer Catherine O’Mahony said that “graduations are not being scaled back, but rather restructured”.
“Unfortunately the worsening public health situation has meant that we must keep the winter graduation ceremonies at 60 per cent capacity”, she said, adding that “all entrants to the public theatre wearing masks and displaying proof either of vaccination or a recent negative PCR test”.
“We will still use all of the additional ceremonies that were scheduled and thereby will cater for all 2021 graduands [yet to graduate].”
Ceremonies scheduled for candidates who deferred graduation in 2020 will now take place in January 2022.
