Mandatory COVID-19 tests, masks and less visitors to alter dorm life for USC students

Everyone living in the University of South Carolina’s on-campus housing will be required to take a mandatory COVID-19 test.

The requirement, which is included as a part of students’ housing contracts, is one of many measures USC is taking to minimize the spread of coronavirus in dormitories, according to the “Campus Reopen and Risk Mitigation Plan,” which was signed by USC President Robert Caslen.

For example, any time students are outside of their dorm rooms — i.e. using the restroom and during a fire drill — they are expected to wear a mask, according to the plan. Students who need to quarantine may be moved to another room, and room transfer requests will be suspended “until further notice.” Campus events are limited to 50 people, according to the plan.

Students who live in off-campus housing will not be required to take a coronavirus test before returning to campus.

The plan says USC may also restrict the number of visitors and implies that more changes could come to dorm life depending on the spread of coronavirus on campus.

The plan paints a picture of a university transformed by the coronavirus pandemic amid a week in which South Carolina has set several records for numbers of new cases. On Friday, the most recent time a new case number record has been broken, the Department of Health and Environmental Control said 1,273 more people tested positive for COVID-19.

At USC, “high touch” areas will be cleaned four to five times per day, according to the plan. Personal sanitary equipment, such as paper towels, hand sanitizer and soap, will be checked twice per day and refilled. Bathrooms will be cleaned twice per day and “common gathering spaces will be fogged or misted once a month,” according to the plan.