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Big changes welcome UB students as they return to campus

Around 170 international students, when they arrive this weekend, can expect to be quarantined for a week.

AMHERST, N.Y. — One of the big changes University at Buffalo students will have to get accustomed to is wearing face masks at all times, except when eating.

UB says it expects about 170 new international students to move in this weekend.

New out-of-state and in-state students will begin moving in on Monday.

UB expects 50 students from out-of-state in so-called hot-spot states to move in, they will have to follow a 14-day quarantine; 40 students from out-of-state are already here, and took summer classes.

Every student living on campus has been given a three-hour time slot on a specific day to move in, so schedules have been staggered.

When international students get here they can expect to have some time to themselves.

When they get here, what’s the protocol? 

"International students are asked to adhere to a seven-day precautionary quarantine for the guidelines provided by New York state they are welcome to do it in one of our facilities but they can also do it off campus as well," said Tom Tiberi, UB's director of campus living. 

Returning students will start to come back a week from Friday. There has been a dramatic drop in in-person learning.

Last fall, there were 8,600 students in UB classrooms. This fall, there will be roughly 1,000, with many students choosing virtual classes.

Across the country, there have been reports of large college parties amid the pandemic.

In the past, UB has had its share of issues in dealing with raucous parties.

What is being done to make sure that doesn’t happen this time around amid a pandemic? 

"I do know that UB is partnering with the City of Buffalo we have a program that we operate every year, once students arrive, called Operation Door Hanger, where we go to 1,500 apartments where students live primarily by the south campus and we give them information about being a good neighbor," Tiberi said.

When students get to campus here over the next week, they will get a completely different learning environment, mandatory face masks, dining halls changed and no more than two people in a dorm.

Students living on campus will only be housed at UB North, on campus residence halls at UB South have been closed because of reduced demand of students living on campus.

Classes at UB start 10 days from now.

If someone tests positive for Covid, that person is quarantined, contact tracing is done and mandatory sanitation.

Precautionary sanitation is already underway. 

"We’re about three weeks behind right now we’re doing about 300-400 jobs a month right now we’re on our last homestretch for the student housing and as students come back in we’re just doing our final touch ups," said Jeffrey Gerber of Buffalo's Cleaning Crew, LLC. 

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