USC is asking students studying in South Korea and Veneto and Lombardy regions in Italy to leave the countries after the situations of coronavirus outbreak continue to worsen.
In an email update sent by USC Provost Tuesday evening, the school required students in South Korea to leave the country since the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued a Level 3 travel advisory for South Korea, which advises against all non-essential travel.
In addition, the university is asking students in Veneto and Lombardy regions in Italy to travel home due to “the rapidly evolving situation” in the areas. “We are contacting students in those areas to arrange for their travel home,” the email reads.
Students who are studying in other parts of Italy are not required to leave, according to the email, but are asked to stay in close contact with their program administrators in case travel restrictions are required in the future.
So far, there have been more than 2,400 cases reported outside of mainland China. South Korea has confirmed that as of Tuesday, the number of cases in the country has climbed to 977, with 11 deaths. Meanwhile, with Italian authorities reporting that the death toll has risen to 11 as of Tuesday morning, Italy became the site of Europe’s biggest outbreak of the disease.
When Sophia Watson, a USC junior studying abroad in Rome, went to her local grocery store Sunday, she found anxious customers rushing from aisle to aisle and the shelves had been stripped bare.
“There were a bunch of people who were panicking on Sunday night when all of this [coronavirus] broke out. The supermarkets were literally empty,” she said.
Watson, an anthropology major student, has been in Italy since January. For her, what was meant to be a carefree semester of roaming the streets in search of the best Italian gelato and train-hopping across Europe on the weekends has been shadowed by growing fears of the coronavirus outbreak.
Mason Robinson, a communications major junior, is also studying abroad in Italy. He said the Italian media is blowing the reports out of proportion and that students are scared that their programs will be canceled due to the panic.
“It’s really just old people and babies actually getting sick,” Robinson said. “We are just worried that our only abroad semester is gonna get ruined because of this.”
USC requires the students to leave countries with “CDC Level 3 or U.S. State Department Level 4” travel advisory. Right now, only South Korea and China are on this list. But students should “contact your program administrator and our COVID-19 hotline” if they want to voluntarily return home from study, according to the previous update sent by USC on Sunday.
“We will support travel needs and discuss academic continuation options in each of your individual cases,” the email reads.
Meanwhile, the university has informed students and families about the spread of the virus and potential alternatives to continue to study abroad.
“They [USC] have offered to make us new course plans if we send them our classes we’re taking now,” said Watson. “So if we do fly back to USC, we have an option to keep getting our credits.”
For students in areas with fewer confirmed cases of the virus such as Australia, the fear of infection has still impacted their semesters abroad. Sophomore Ashley Brady was hoping to visit Southeast Asia for her spring break, but as the situation there kept worsening, Brady decided against it, saying that she will “likely go to New Zealand because they don’t have any confirmed cases of the virus.”
USC has canceled the study abroad programs in China this spring. As of now, there are no confirmed cases of coronavirus within the USC community in Los Angeles.
Any students who are feeling worried or concerned for family or friends overseas should contact Counseling and Mental Health Services in USC Student Health at 213-740-9355 (WELL). Faculty and staff are encouraged to call the Center for Work and Family Life at 213-821-0800. Campus Support & Intervention is also available for any university audience at 213-740-0411.
The latest information about the coronavirus is on campus emergency website, including frequently asked questions.