'Beer pong' ... and outbreak of Covid-19 on campus: 120 positives at a student party put four universities in check

• COVID.Sanidad sees a "risk situation" in all the universities of Valencia after the outbreak that has already paralyzed the UPV

• Live.Coronavirus in Spain, today.

At the

, on the night of Saturday, September 26, there was everything, except masks and centimeters of distance between people.

At one of the tables a

championship was improvised

, one of their ingenious games that mix drink and revelry.

You throw the ball from your side of the field and if you pocket it in one of the glasses ... then the opposing team has to account for the content.

It can be with beer, the cheapest version, or with a stronger drink;

and you can even make up the rules so that you always have to drink the same (which can be you if you insist on it).

When a week later, around 11:00 p.m. on Sunday, October 4, the emails of thousands of students of the

received the official communication that face-to-face classes were suspended as of the next day and

, there was still no adjusted perception in public opinion of the impact of the "outbreak" of coronavirus infections derived from the

.

This Monday, however, the quantitative and qualitative data caused a real earthquake in the university life of Valencia.

The Galileo Galilei residence hall is the largest coronavirus outbreak detected in the Valencian Community in this second wave of the pandemic.

Suspicions centered on the residential center when on Wednesday it was detected in class that there was a student with symptoms of Covid-19;

the following day, the number of cases grew around the campus and, from there, a study was started that determined the need to do a massive screening among the university students who had been at that party.

Massive PCR

Only on Friday 712 PCR tests were carried out among students of the Polytechnic, who were guarding the line, between pissed off at being the target of looks and comments from the press, and pissed off because they sensed that the irresponsibility of a few would take its toll on many companions.

The night of Saturday 26 was busy on the terrace of one of the most popular colleges on the campus of the Polytechnic University of Valencia.

Popular does not mean that just anyone can afford it.

A single room of just over 20 meters with a balcony or window is 1,000 euros.

Only the privileged can pay for the premium penthouse with private terrace (1,300 euros per month), but you can have shelter shared with two other people for 635 euros.

But at the Ibiza party the entrance was

, the drink was appearing at a good pace and the doors of the rooms opened and closed almost like in the

of the dusty towns of the Wild West.

The Ministry of Health confirmed this Monday that the results of 411 tests have resulted in 120 positives.

Neither more nor less than 30%.

And, what is more worrying, the party attendees not only belonged to the Polytechnic campus, but also to three other universities: One public, the University of Valencia, and two other private, Cardenal Herrera-CEU and the University Catholic of Valencia.

This mix of

has a direct impact on the measures that have to be taken.

First, all residents of the Colegio Mayor have been "invited" by the authorities to confine themselves for eight days.

The Valencian Government hopes that the courts will validate this administrative decision so that the confinement of the schoolboys is not something voluntary, as explained by the Minister of Health, Ana Barceló.

The confirmation of the Superior Court of Justice is necessary because it is a group of persons not individually identified.

If a student skipped the lockdown, Health could urge their "individual" confinement with judicial authorization.

In addition, 25,000 students are left without classes and without face-to-face practices on the Valencia campus of the Polytechnic.

And, beyond those directly affected, all practices in all degrees related to Health Sciences are suspended, that is, from Medicine to Nursing, in all the centers of the four universities with implantation in the province of Valencia.

These four universities group more than 70,000 students, who await rectorial decisions with some concern.

The measure will be extended between October 6 and 16.

Cardenal Herrera-CEU has gone on to give online training in a Medicine group and a Veterinary one.

The governing councils of the affected academic institutions have been analyzing, one by one, the cases of their respective students to take surgical measures, going faculty by faculty.

, for example, has centers on its Tarongers campus that adjoin the Vera campus and the Galileo Galilei environment.

There, face-to-face classes could even be suspended for a few days.

Health will coordinate a screening in the classrooms in which a positive is detected "when the complete result of which specialties or from which classrooms they come is obtained".

Meanwhile, the rest of the faculties will be able to function normally.

The delegate of students of the Polytechnic, Marta Guallart, in statements to EL MUNDO, admits that the curricular damage for students can be "very great" if the practices are not standardized, which are "essential" for the adequate training of students. students and who have already suffered alterations due to confinement.

Private center on a public campus

When on Sunday, with these provisional data in hand, the health authorities ordered drastic measures to be taken, the team of the Rector's Office of the Polytechnic University did not even inform the student representatives or the prevention delegates that it was suspending face-to-face classes.

There was not time.

And he was already keeping his distance with those responsible for the residence, describing the problem as "a series of contagions" in the largest private-managed college located within the campus.

And it is true, the Galileo Galilei is a private school, built on private land, but within the campus and attached by agreement to the UPV, which complicates the ability to take administrative measures against the college and against the students, who formally enjoyed of leisure time in a private space.

Of the 120 positives, 106 are residents of this center and 14 students of the UPV.

The rector of the Polytechnic, Francisco Mora, expressed his amazement on Monday at the fact that the senior college management did not even find out about the organization of the party.

At his side, the Minister of Universities, Carolina Pascual, announced that her department has urged the Department of Justice, which is competent to direct the Autonomous Police, to open an investigation and study possible sanctions for "very serious" events.

The Administration is aware of "parties that should not have been celebrated" and of non-compliance with preventive measures such as the use of masks.

Health intends to approve a protocol that will be sent to universities, residences and colleges.

In a meeting with the rectors, this Monday afternoon, they have been "very collaborative"

Students support the measures

Marta Guallart, representative of the students of the Polytechnic, prefers to be prudent in her assessment, pending the results and the final measures.

However, she believes that it is better to "tackle the root problems" and not have to regret further damage.

Meanwhile, the unions are demanding that the rector team adopt measures so that some of the administrative staff who go to their jobs in person can stay at home teleworking.

"It would not make sense that with what is happening they were making us go to class and I suppose that, out of fear, even if it was allowed, people would not go."

In his opinion, the measures taken to return to the classroom were being "impeccable".

He was taking "a very large control of the situation" in the first days of class.

"We do not share or believe that what was done in the Galileo should be done, that party should not have been held and we ask, please, that it not be done again, but not there or anywhere," says Guallat.

"If not, we will not be able to return to classes with a certain normality and we have all had a very bad time during confinement, teaching in front of a computer."

"The decision that has been adopted does not seem to me an illogical solution", indicates Guallart, because we also have a couple of holidays that will allow us not to miss more hours of class than are strictly necessary.

It is clear that it is worth more now than in times of examinations, "she adds.

For his part, Andrea Paricio, vice-president of the Valencian interuniversity council of students, recalls that since last May they have demanded that measures be adopted to help students who come from abroad and must face rent of apartments that they do not need later because the classes They are dual, half face-to-face, half online.

Paricio believes that the students who must attend in person and those who can stay at home should be defined in detail, especially the disabled or families with fewer resources.

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