Boston College Freshmen Arrive On Campus Facing Strict New Safety Rules
CHESTNUT HILL (CBS) - At Boston College, it's a start to the school year unlike any other.
Freshmen started to move in on Wednesday, and the first-year students arriving on campus had to take a coronavirus test and quarantine.
"It was just a nasal swab," freshman Isaiah Clark told WBZ-TV. "You have to wait in your room until your results come back."
Boston College says students get their results back in six-to-26 hours.
"They gave us a bag of quarantine food, I guess, and that was like our lunch until we got our results back," said freshman Beyanna Mason.
Other new rules include having only one person help you move in, and masks are required.
"I feel like the way they have it set up, I think they lowered the risk as much as possible and still give us a touch of what that college life would be like," said Mason.
Caroline Butterworth lives in Newton. Her daughter is checking in at B.C. on Wednesday evening.
"I think she's been a little bit nervous about the whole issue with the pandemic and just packing and getting quarantined," said Butterworth.
Butterworth says she isn't too worried about students getting sick or spreading the virus.
"I think B.C. is doing a great job," she said. "I guess I feel safe. I'm not worried about it."
Governor Baker says they've been in constant communication with colleges about safety.
"And I fully expect that the sometimes daily conversations that are going on between us and those local communities around enforcement and around messaging and around rules of the road, guidance and advisories and everything else, they're going to continue to be pretty regular practice for all of us as we head into the month of September," Baker said at a news conference on Tuesday.
Freshmen say they know if they're not careful, their school year could be in jeopardy.
"I think right now we all understand that in order to stay on campus, we can't party. We have to try to stay in our rooms and stay to ourselves," said Clark.
Boston College says they have tested 2,132 undergraduate students, and four have tested positive for coronavirus as of Wednesday afternoon.
