According to an email from the Center for Well-Being Monday morning, all students in the St. John Vianney College Seminary have been asked to quarantine for the next two weeks “as a precautionary measure” after 12 students in the residence tested positive for COVID-19 Friday.

Contact tracing is currently underway and all students in SJV have been moved to isolation and quarantine housing on campus. In addition, the university has conducted targeted testing of approximately 100 SJV students.

“Following regular protocols, faculty will receive contact tracing notifications for any students who tested positive,” the email, signed by Center for Well-Being Director Madonna McDermott said. “Those students, along with students who are in quarantine, will not be attending in-person classes until their isolation or quarantine period ends.”

The move to quarantine all students comes after consultation with the Minnesota Department of Health, the email stated.

According to the university’s COVID-19 Preparedness Plan, individuals diagnosed with COVID-19 “are expected to stay home until they have been fever-free for 72 hours (without use of medicine that reduces fever) and at least 10 days have passed since symptoms first appeared and other symptoms have improved.”

The plan also requires 14 days of quarantine for community members who have had close contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19.

Since the university’s COVID-19 Dashboard reflects positive tests on a Saturday-Friday cycle, not all results from SJV mass testing will be accounted for in this afternoon’s dashboard. Results arriving on Friday will be reflected in this afternoon’s dashboard, while results arriving over the weekend will be reflected in next week’s dashboard.

This is the second residence hall outbreak on campus this school year. In October, the second floor of Brady Hall entered a two-week quarantine after five students out of 29 on the floor tested positive for COVID-19.

Justin Amaker can be reached at justin.amaker@stthomas.edu.