Chancellor Blank statement in response to County Executive Parisi

Chancellor Rebecca Blank released the following statement:

County Executive Parisi and I both share similar concern for the health and well-being of UW–Madison students and the residents of Dane County.  That is the primary reason we have instituted a robust testing regime – to ensure we knew about and could take action related to the spread of COVID-19.

It’s the university’s goal to be a partner with the city and county and not unduly strain limited resources.  To be clear, we have created significant testing capacity on our campus, which has had available slots every day for members of the campus community. It is also why we have hired, and continue to hire dozens of contact tracers, and have set aside more than 1,000 spaces for students in need of isolation or quarantine.

The university recently entered a two-week period of reduced activity for undergraduates, but recognizes that cases will continue to rise among students in the short term. We will continue to evaluate our operations in light of this changing situation.

The university has received a number of questions about whether students living in campus residence halls will be sent home, as requested by Dane County Executive Joe Parisi in his letter to Chancellor Blank and President Thompson earlier today.

The university does not believe that asking students to leave the residence halls is warranted at this time. The university has taken a number of actions to slow the spread of the virus and additional actions will be announced soon.