Covid 19 Omicron outbreak: First-year students playing loose with isolation rules

Otago University students say strict rules to stop Covid-19 ripping through residential halls are not being obeyed after confirmation the virus has spread to at least one hall.

An email obtained by the Otago Daily Times confirmed a resident with Covid-19 in the Otago Polytechnic Student Village was not self-isolating between February 17 and 18.

A spokesman for the polytechnic declined to comment on the case, citing privacy reasons.

A university spokeswoman also said it would not be publicly revealing confirmed cases at individual halls.

"When we have a case in a residential college, we are ensuring that any students who test positive are isolating and well looked after," she said.

Most hall residents were adhering to guidelines and all students in residential colleges would be advised of the first positive case of Covid-19 "when and if a college is notified".

In all cases where there was a Covid-19 positive resident, the college would also follow up with close contacts, she said.

Rules circulated at University College and obtained by the Otago Daily Times expected students to maintain a 1.5m distance from others, strict room capacity limits, and to wear masks at all times unless eating or alone in a room.

The Otago Polytechnic Student Village accommodation complex. Photo / Supplied

One Unicol student said residents were following the rules "to a certain degree", but people tended to flout them, especially later in the evenings.

Although people saw the point of the rules, they were not being followed most of the time, the anonymous student said.

Everyone was "pretty gutted" about the cancellation of events but were trying to make the most of O-Week despite the Covid-19 rules.

"I wish we were kept more in the loop," another resident said.

The subwardens did their best to enforce the rules, but it was like a game of whack-a-mole.

She said the situation was "overwhelming" for first-year students.

Two students from Cumberland College were at Unicol to visit friends.

They tended to go room to room when subwardens came to enforce gathering limit rules, one said.

A similar thing was going on when it came to visiting other halls of residence.
"You just get kicked out of one hall and you go to the next," said the other.

A police spokesman confirmed police dispersed a large gathering on Dundas St at 11.20pm on Monday.

Unicol on Leith St. Photo / Supplied

A resident estimated about 600 students typically passed by his flat each night, going from party to party.

He believed the groups were mainly first years with some second years.

He believed a reluctance to get tested among the student population would "artificially downgrade" reported case numbers.