When 
LSA 
junior 
Sam 

Burnstein 
arrived 
at 
the 

University 
of 
Michigan’s 

quarantine 
housing 
at 

Northwood apartments, he was 
underwhelmed by what he found. 

“When 
walking 
into 
the 

apartments here, the whole time 
I kept thinking, ‘This feels like 
a big afterthought,’” Burnstein 
said. “It feels like the University 
had, like, two or three weeks till 
the school year starts and they’re 
like, ‘Oh, we need somewhere 
to put these students,’ because 
everything 
was 
just 
very 

haphazardly thrown together.” 

In 
an 
effort 
to 
contain 

the spread of COVID-19, the 
University has told students who 
test positive for the virus, are 
symptomatic or were in close 
contact with someone who tested 
positive to isolate or quarantine 
for up to two weeks. 

But students in University-

provided quarantine housing on 
North Campus have expressed 
concerns 
about 
what 
they 

describe as a lack of sanitation, 
the low quality of the meal 
delivery service and insufficient 
communication between them 
and the University.

Students who live in residence 

halls and test positive for the 
virus are required to quarantine 
or isolate at apartments on 
North Campus, return to their 

permanent residence or book a 
room at a local hotel. If a contact 
tracer discovers that a student had 
close contact with a COVID-19 
positive individual, the exposed 
student is also instructed to go 
into quarantine. 

In an email to The Daily, 

University 
spokesperson 
Kim 

Broekhuizen said students are 
not required to stay in University-
provided housing. 

“Students who need to isolate 

or quarantine are not required to 
observe that period in a university 
unit; some students choose to go 
home, others might choose a local 
hotel,” Broekhuizen wrote. “The 
university provides quarantine 
and isolation housing so students 
have a place to live, safely, outside 
of 
their 
regular 
residential 

community.” 

According to University data 

on 
quarantine 
and 
isolation 

housing, as of Monday morning, 
20 people were in isolation with 
a positive test result and 39 
were in quarantine after having 
been exposed or awaiting a test 
result. Nearly 10 percent of the 
quarantine and isolation housing 
was full. 

Unsanitary 
housing 

conditions

Four 
students 
told 
The 

Daily that upon arrival, their 
apartments at Northwood were 
unsanitary. 
LSA 
freshman 

Rochelle Smith said she found 
hair on the bed and on the floor 
as well as in the bathroom sink, in 
addition to cobwebs with spiders 

in the unit. 

Smith moved to Northwood 

after 
a 
student 
who 
tested 

positive reported her name to a 
contact tracer. She said she was 
told to quarantine for two weeks 
even if she tested negative. 

While she was provided with 

a number to call for complaints, 
she decided not to report the 
condition of her apartment. After 
one day at Northwood, Smith 
returned to her parents’ home to 
quarantine there. 

In a message to The Daily, 

Engineering 
sophomore 
Cate 

Sullivan said there was crusted, 
used soap in her shower and the 
apartment’s door lock was broken 
when she arrived. 

“It’s 
quarantine 
housing,” 

Sullivan 
said. 
“It 
probably 

should be cleaned well between 
residents.”

Broekhuizen 
outlined 

the 
cleaning 
procedures 
for 

quarantine rooms in her email to 
The Daily. 

“Student Life Facilities cleans 

and sanitizes each unit before 
and after each use, using EPA-
regulated 
cleaners 
certified 

as 
effective 
against 
germs 

and 
viruses,” 
Broekhuizen 

wrote. “This is an enhanced 
cleaning protocol put in effect 
for all residential units since 
March. After a student leaves 
a quarantine room, Facilities 
disinfects the room 7 days later, 
after which time the next student 
may get assigned. The timeline is 
based on CDC guidelines.”

According to Sullivan, the 

Division of Public Safety and 
Security opened her apartment 
unit to check if someone was 
there when she moved in and 
later 
walked 
into 
her 
unit 

unannounced. 

“When I arrived, DPSS knocked 

and asked if anyone was inside, 
checked the apartment, then said, 
‘It’s all set,’ like they didn’t know 
if it was gonna be empty or not,” 
Sullivan said, adding that later 
on, “DPSS randomly entered my 
apartment without knocking or 
asking. When they saw me, they 
said sorry and left without an 
explanation.”

Central Student Government 

President Amanda Kaplan and 
Vice President Saveri Nandigama 
wrote a letter to students living 
in quarantine housing giving 
them more details on cleaning 
procedures.

“Each room remains empty 

for a week after a student leaves 
quarantine and it is cleaned 
between students,” the letter said. 
“We are currently working to 
ensure that cleaning procedures 
are specified and documented 
upon 
a 
student’s 
arrival 
to 

quarantine housing.” 

According to the Campus Maize 

& Blueprint website, custodians 
clean the facilities’ high-traffic 
surfaces.

“These disinfectants will be 

regularly applied to frequently 
touched surfaces such as door 
knobs and handles, door push 
plates and crash bars, light 
switches, sink and faucet handles, 
elevator handles and more,” the 
website states.

Lack of supplies
Students moving to Northwood 

received an email from Eric 
Aiken, 
assistant 
director 
of 

student leadership for Michigan 
Housing, regarding their move-in. 
This email, obtained by The Daily, 
has a section titled “For your 
comfort” 
suggesting 
students 

pack items such as bedding, hand 
soap, bathroom toiletries, cooking 
materials and a trash can. Students 
were also told to bring two weeks 
of clothing because there are no 
laundry facilities available. 

Four students told The Daily 

they were given anywhere from 
20 minutes to eight hours to pack 
their belongings before they were 
transported to Northwood by 
DPSS.

Burnstein 
posted 
a 
now-

viral Tik Tok on Friday about 
the conditions in Northwood 
quarantine housing. As of Monday 
morning, Burnstein’s Tik Tok has 
racked up nearly 90,000 likes on 
Tik Tok. 

“We were given almost no 

supplies, we were given no 
food, no masks, no gloves, no 
microwave, no bedsheets, no soap, 
no cleaning supplies, no nothing,” 
Burnstein said in the Tik Tok. 
He also challenged University 
President Mark Schlissel to spend 
a night in quarantine housing.

Burnstein told The Daily he 

had about two to three hours 
to pack his belongings before 
being transported to Northwood 
by DPSS. He said he does not 
recall receiving an email about 
suggested items to pack. 

Music, Theatre and Dance 

freshman Joseph Bickel said he 
received limited supplies when 
he arrived in quarantine housing. 
When he requested items such 
as trash cans, paper plates, toilet 
paper and garbage bags, he said it 
took more than a day to get them. 

Kaplan 
and 
Nandigama 

addressed the lack of supplies in 
their letter. They said they are 
currently working on ensuring 
that students are provided with 
necessary 
supplies, 
including 

personal protective equipment, 
upon arrival.

“Students will now be provided 

with 
bar 
soap, 
toilet 
paper, 

shampoo, trash liners, trash can, 
sheets, pillow, pillowcase (and) 
microwaves,” the letter said. 

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Students encounter unsanitary 
conditions in quarantine housing

Inhabitants of University isolation apartments face a lack of supplies, 
inadequate meal service, uncertainty in protocol, general confusion

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
2 — Wednesday, September 16, 2020 

MADDIE FOX/Daily

Northwood Apartments on North Campus are being used to house studens in quarantine.

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