Middlebury College campus roads closed to public during COVID crisis

This article by Lou Varricchio originally appeared Aug.31 in the Vermont Eagle. It is republished here with permission.

MIDDLEBURY — Middlebury College officials announced that access to the campus is off-limits to the public during the COVID-19 crisis. According to Middlebury Police Chief Tom Hanley, that includes roads that either bisect or transect the campus.

“Roads that are under the ownership and control of the college, such as Old Chapel Road, Bicentennial, Adirondack View, Porterfield Road, Service Road, Chateau Road… are closed to public access at this time,” Hanley announced in a Town of Middlebury Emergency Management Bulletin dated Aug. 27.

Wikimedia Commons/PenelopeIsMe

Middlebury College’s John M. McCardell, Jr. Bicentennial Hall

However, Hanley noted that Golf Course Road will remain open for those golfing at the popular Ralph Myhre course which is on the west end of campus along Route 30.

“Public highways such as College Street, South Main Street, Weybridge Street, Hillcrest Road, Shannon Sreet, Storrs Avenue, Franklin Street remain open for public use,” Hanley noted. “The Catholic cemetery on Hillcrest and the town cemetery off South Main Street remain accessible.

“If you can avoid recreational use of intra-campus public roadways like Hillcrest, Franklin, and Storrs it will help with the quarantine and minimize contact, at least for the next few weeks,” he added.

Hanley reported that the college is quarantining students within the campus and have closed the campus to outside entry. The closures are intended to help minimize unnecessary contact between the general public and the campus.

According to college guidelines, all students living on campus and off-campus, regardless of what location they are coming from and regardless of their mode of travel back to campus, “are required to complete the pre-arrival quarantine. Students who are not able to complete the 14-day pre-arrival quarantine will be required to quarantine in their dorm rooms on campus (or off-campus residences) until they receive a second negative day-seven COVID-19 test result.”

College administrators have provided a COVID-19 campus reporting dashboard.

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons/PenelopeIsMe

3 thoughts on “Middlebury College campus roads closed to public during COVID crisis

  1. How breathtakingly ridiculous can ppl get – is there a competition for best scaremonger with grand prize? Ongoing mass hysteria, foolish and onerous rules and regulations astonish. This is what the groupthink braintrust who have nothing useful to contribute do and they’re seemingly everywhere – facepalm –

Comments are closed.