LEXINGTON, Va. – Like many colleges and universities across our area, Virginia Military Institute is focusing on keeping the campus and greater community safe while some of their own recover from COVID-19.
As of Friday, VMI was reporting 42 active COVID-19 cases, with almost 200 cadets in quarantine.
School leaders said the uptick is mostly due to the close quarters of the barracks.
As a result, the military school is taking steps to curb the spread, including offering rapid testing at the hospital on post, housing people with the virus in local hotels and putting and visitor restrictions in place.
“We’ve had to cancel tailgates and football season and parents weekends, trying really to maintain a bubble here with our cadets, trying to keep the virus away from the cadets... but also the virus the cadets have away from the local community,” said Bill Wyatt, director of communications for VMI.
School leaders are still discussing whether cadets can go home for the Thanksgiving holiday. They’re expected to make a decision in the next few weeks.