Professors at the University of Alabama were told by administrators not to discuss a massive coronavirus outbreak with their students.
According to an email obtained by the Daily Beast, university officials told professors that students were not at risk of spreading COVID-19 as long as they wore a mask to class and honored social distancing recommendations. The administration told professors that they were not allowed to tell their students if a member of the class had tested positive for the virus.
“If the established rules for masks and physical distancing are followed in the classroom, then the risk of transmission from the positive student is minimal, and it is not necessary to inform the rest of the class they may have been in the same room as a positive classmate,” an email stated. “For privacy reasons, the instructor should not announce to the class that a student in the class tested positive, even anonymously.”
“Do not tell the rest of the class,” one email stated. The word “not” was underlined in the email.
Earlier this week, the university announced that more than 500 students had tested positive for COVID-19 in the first week following the start of classes. In the email to professors, the administration warned that discussing the outbreak could violate HIPAA regulations. Many professors said that they felt the policy placed them and their students at risk.
“A lot of my colleagues and people I’ve talked to, they’re terrified,” said Michael Innis-Jimenez, an American studies professor who opted to teach his courses online during the fall semester.
The University of Alabama’s Associate Vice President for Communications Monica Watts responded to concerns about the policy by pointing to the university’s privacy policy which states, “For privacy reasons, the instructor should not announce to the class that a student in the class has tested positive, even anonymously.”
