• Tests conducted: 78 students, six staff and one guest priest. 

• Of the 26 COVID-positive students reported on Oct. 13, all 26 tested negative and are now recovered. 

• Of the three COVID-positive staff, all three tested negative and are now recovered. 

• Of the 52 COVID-negative students, 51 tested negative again. 

• One student tested positive with a nasal swab diagnostic rapid test. The private hospital ran a molecular test for this one positive student, and we will have results within 24 hours to either confirm the positive or confirm the test was a false positive. This student is self isolating on campus. 

To recap the timeline, the university welcomed 78 university students to its highly acclaimed Rome Program in Marino (RM), Italy, on Sept. 13. In addition to testing negative for COVID-19 in the USA prior to departing for Rome, students observed a 14-day quarantine on campus upon arrival and submitted to a voluntary second COVID-19 test on Thursday, Sept. 17, 2020. This test, performed by a private clinic in Rome, demonstrated that all students had remained COVID negative throughout the opening days of their academic program. 

A COVID-19 outbreak affecting 26 students and three staff members was then verified on the Rome campus on Oct. 13 and communicated to the local health authority, ASL 6 / SISP H3 (Ciampino-Marino). All students and staff in the program submitted to yet another COVID-19 test on Oct. 15 and once again submitted to a 14-day period of quarantine beginning on Oct. 13 and ending on Oct. 27. Of the 26 students who tested positive, only three exhibited symptoms, such as mild temperature, sore throat and cough.

Updates and COVID-19 cases are posted on the University of Dallas’ website here: https://www.udallas.edu/coronavirus/covid-case-report.php.

The University of Dallas Rome Program is committed to offering its students a superior educational experience in Italy, a country with an inestimably rich cultural and religious heritage. Studies have now resumed on the Rome campus. Students are scheduled to complete their course of studies on Nov. 24 and return to the USA the following day.