Student dorms are risky. How the situation is developing in schools

Thousands of students and pupils were quarantined at home three weeks after schools opened for the new school year.

The school in Trebišov.The school in Trebišov. (Source: TASR)

Eight days after the academic year opened, hygienists placed the dorm of the medical school in Martin, a temporary home to 800 students, under quarantine.

Students remained trapped in the high-rise building. They eat in the canteen of the facility based on a schedule, and volunteers do shopping for them. They will remain quarantined until October 5.

SkryťTurn off ads
Article continues after video advertisement
SkryťTurn off ads
Article continues after video advertisement

By Friday, 17 students living at the dorm in Martin had had a positive coronavirus test, and the dorm has become a hotspot of infection. Hygienists suppose it is due to parties that the students had organised.

SkryťTurn off ads

"As if they had forgotten that responsible behaviour and observing the rules was due," chief hygienist of the Regional Public Health Office in Martin, Tibor Záborský, said. "For sure it was not two to three people, but possibly dozens of students meeting at once."

Slovakia's largest student dormitory village in the Mlynska Dolina area of Bratislava and the nearby Družba dormitories are now following the red phase, with a stricter regime, too. Altogether 12 students have tested positive.

"University dorms are very risky," infectologist and member of the pandemic commission Pavol Jarčuška said. According to him, experts have already discussed adjusting the rules for universities and their housing facilities.

SkryťTurn off ads

"If a university can, it should switch to remote education and only those who really have to should stay at the dormitories," Jarčuška said.

The largest universities in Bratislava, Comenius University and the Slovak University of Technology, announced on Monday, September 28 that they were switching to remote teaching as of October 5.

The rest of this article is premium content at Spectator.sk
Subscribe now for full access

I already have subscription - Sign in

Subscription provides you with:
  • Immediate access to all locked articles (premium content) on Spectator.sk
  • Special weekly news summary + an audio recording with a weekly news summary to listen to at your convenience (received on a weekly basis directly to your e-mail)
  • PDF version of the latest issue of our newspaper, The Slovak Spectator, emailed directly to you
  • Access to all premium content on Sme.sk and Korzar.sk

Top stories

Stock image.

Twice as many Ukrainians work in Slovakia now than before the Russian invasion.


Píšem or pišám?

"Do ľava," (to the left) I yelled, "Nie, do prava" (no, to the right), I gasped. "Dolšie," I screamed. "Nie, nie, horšie..." My Slovak girlfriend collapsed in laughter. Was it something I said?


Matthew J. Reynolds
Czech biochemist Jan Konvalinka.

Jan Konvalinka was expecting a pandemic before Covid-19 came along.


SkryťClose ad