USC says news of a coronavirus outbreak would come from health officials first

Following rumors that a case of coronavirus broke out near USC Monday night, the University affirmed that news of an outbreak would not come from an apartment management team but from L.A. County public health authorities first.

On Monday night, students feared that the virus may have spread to the USC community after off-campus housing complex The Lorenzo emailed tenants erroneously stating that a resident had contracted the virus. 

Chief Health Officer Sarah Van Orman said that if an individual from the USC community were to contract the virus, Student Health would first inform the Los Angeles Department of Public Health, which would inform the public of any development involving the coronavirus.

“The Department of Public Health is the only agency that has the authority to release the results,” Van Orman told the Daily Trojan. “In the event that there were students affected, they would let us know. They would put out a public press release like we saw over the weekend for the non-USC individual.”

Health officials confirmed two cases of coronavirus in Los Angeles and Orange counties Sunday. There has been no evidence of person-to-person transmission in these two cases. Currently, the Center for Disease Control is investigating more than 100 potential cases of coronavirus, with five cases confirmed, 70 under investigation and 30 with negative results. However, no one affiliated with USC is currently under investigation, Van Orman said.

Posts about the false outbreak filled social media, including the USC memes page on Facebook. One on the memes page read “University of Spreading Coronavirus” and another included a photo depicting fake face masks engraved with USC’s initials.

Some concerned students also created a petition that night requesting that USC cancel classes. It garnered nearly 10,000 signatures.

Some students reported seeing fire trucks and members of the Los Angeles Fire Department outside the apartment complex that evening. According to DPS Daily Crime and Fire Logs, a student was transported to a local hospital near 9 p.m. after reporting a sore throat and fatigue.

The Lorenzo later retracted their notice, apologizing for the release of false information. The Lorenzo declined to further comment on the incident and redirected communication to USC Media Relations. 

Van Orman said the ill student was screened for coronavirus symptoms through a checklist developed by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health per protocol, saying what occurred on the scene may have led to miscommunication. 

While there are at least five confirmed coronavirus cases in the U.S., the situation is not as severe as it is in Wuhan, China, and other parts of the nation, where the virus first spread, Van Orman said.

USC is currently working with LAPHD to monitor developments in Los Angeles. L.A. has not placed a quarantine for those returning from Wuhan or any affected areas. Van Orman encouraged individuals experiencing symptoms to seek immediate medical care.

“There’s social distancing,” she said. “I think there’s confusion because of the measures being taken in China, where they have a localized population with thousands of cases, versus the measures that we might, for example, take in the United States, where we have had a handful of cases that have been contained. It’s a very different situation.”

USC Student Health plans to increase communication to continue to ease student concerns on the outbreak and relay the preventative measures being taken.