The recent spike in coronavirus cases reported at the University of Maryland has been linked mostly to small gatherings in dorms, University Health Center Director Dr. Spyridon Marinopoulos told The Diamondback on Thursday.

The university is aware of clusters and outbreaks in “many different buildings” on campus, Marinopoulos said. This prompted the university to institute the sequester-in-place order for people living in dorms and university Greek life housing Saturday.

In the past week, the university’s on-campus testing program has reported 156 coronavirus cases, according to the university’s COVID-19 dashboard. In addition, 130 students have self-reported positive cases to the university in the past week.

The university’s coronavirus tests do not test for variants of the virus, Marinopoulos said. Three variants have been found in Maryland.

[As UMD hits COVID case highs, availability dwindles in isolation and quarantine housing]

“It’s very important for us to reinforce the importance of really hunkering down right now,” he said. “We’re at a critical point, we all have to do the very best we can to hunker down, follow the measures, so that we can get over the hump of this.”

Students from at least 27 residential buildings have been relocated to isolation or quarantine housing, according to Residential Facilities emails obtained by The Diamondback. The emails were sent by the department on Feb. 19, 20, 21 and 24. The residential buildings include:

  •     Allegany Hall
  •     Bel Air Hall (resident(s) moved from one floor)
  •     Cambridge Hall (one floor affected)
  •     Calvert Hall
  •     Centreville Hall (three floors affected)
  •     Charles Hall
  •     Chestertown Hall (one floor affected)
  •     Cumberland Hall (two floors affected)
  •     Denton Hall (four floors affected)
  •     Dorchester Hall (one floor affected)
  •     Easton Hall (four floors affected)
  •     Ellicott Hall (two floors affected)
  •     Elkton Hall (four floors affected)
  •     Hagerstown Hall (six floors affected)
  •     Harford Hall
  •     La Plata Hall (three floors affected)
  •     Montgomery Hall
  •     Oakland Hall (three floors affected)
  •     Prince Frederick Hall (two floors affected)
  •     Queen Anne’s Hall (one floor affected)
  •     Somerset Hall (three floors affected)
  •     St. Mary’s Hall
  •     Washington Hall
  •     Worcester Hall (one floor affected)
  •     Kappa Alpha Order
  •     Phi Kappa Tau
  •     Delta Phi Epsilon

Senior staff writer Clara Longo de Freitas contributed to this story.