"We thought they would let us out against signature." The police have closed off Syktyvkar State University’s dormitory because of coronavirus
On June 16, the Republican Rospotrebnadzor imposed quarantine in the academic building No. 2 and the student dormitory at 72 Kommunisticheskaya Street. According to the university's press relations service, coronavirus was confirmed in several first-year and second-year students of the Medical Institute. They were transferred to a distance course.
"It is said that the quarantine was imposed on June 16. But we still had practical training that day, everything was fine on June 17, too. They stopped letting us out of the dormitory after lunch on June 18. We thought they would let us out to see a doctor or to go shopping against signature. But they will not let anyone out. They have closed off the entire building. Several police squads arrived," a fourth-year student of Syktyvkar State University, who wished to remain anonymous, told 7x7.
He said that on June 18, they had learned that the dormitory would have been closed in half an hour. Some students managed to leave it. But most of them stayed in because they had not seen these messages. There are more than 150 people in the block where 7x7’s interlocutor lives.
"It was said [in social networks] that the Young Guard brought water and food on June 17–18, but my friends were given neither water, nor food. Since today [June 21], they have organized hot meals: soup, second course, bread, and food for dinner. There is enough food for the whole day. But we are not provided with water, they only gave us small cartons of juice. It is forbidden to go buy food, but you can ask relatives or friends to send you food by a security guard's hand or call for delivery," the student said.
The university's website says that students who violate the instructions of Rospotrebnadzor will be held administratively liable. Students of the university were asked to take the situation "seriously and reduce real contacts to a minimum."
"We are totally depressed. We wake up scrunched for days. I do not want to do anything. They say that people with COVID-19 are taken to the hospital, so we understand. But we still have fear. This is a dormitory: there is a common kitchen, a common washroom, a shower and a corridor," said 7x7’s interlocutor.
He added that the students were worried that there had been no exact date for lifting the quarantine. Initially, according to him, residents of the dormitory were told that it would last two weeks, until July 1. Olga Sotnikova, the rector of the university, said in a video message that the quarantine would last 14 days after the last person with coronavirus was registered.
"If no one falls ill during this period, the quarantine will be lifted in 14 days," said Sotnikova.
According to the Ranshe Vsekh ('before anyone else') — Komi Telegram channel, 21 students were taken to hospital from the student dormitory on June 21. The Department of Rospotrebnadzor in the Komi Republic did not answer the calls of 7x7’s correspondent.
Lyudmila Glushkova, the head of the republican department of Rospotrebnadzor, said in early June that new restrictions could be introduced in the republic due to the increase in the incidence of COVID-19. They will affect the holding of mass events and the work of enterprises in the service and trade industries. A few days later, Vladimir Uyba, the head of the Komi Republic, was taken to an infective hospital with coronavirus. He got vaccinated with Sputnik V in February 2021.