By Housing and Residential Life officials confirmed on Tuesday that housing will remain open even if Long Beach State turns to alternative methods of teaching due to the concerns of COVID-19.
Corry Colonna, executive director of housing and residential life, said that housing and housing services will remain open and accessible to students if the school decides to suspend in-person classes and implement alternative methods of learning like online classes.
Colonna said that in the extreme case the campus has to close down, housing and housing services would be consolidated to one or two buildings.
“We would clean and prepare one building that needs to remain and provide those services,” Colonna said.
Those buildings, according to Colonna, would be for international students, foster youth students and “Other students that don’t have a home to go back to or a place that isn’t welcoming.”
Residential halls are being cleaned and disinfected twice a day. Colonna said that the department is being advised by health officials.
Students expressed their concerns about student housing after an email on March 7 announced that three non-CSULB related individuals tested positive for coronavirus at an event in Washington D.C. that students attended earlier last week. Though one of the students who attended the event lives in student housing, it has not been disclosed as to which dormitory they live in.
“We want to protect their privacy,” Colonna said. “Furthermore, there is no suspected case or confirmed case on campus. Having that student stay is taking extra protective precautions.”
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