Princeton Issues New Mandate Forbidding Students To Leave County Over COVID-19

Kudos to Princeton University for setting a new bar for COVID-19 craziness.

Many other institutions are in the running, but the proud Ivy League school in New Jersey might have just outdone everyone. The school announced Monday that due to a rise in COVID-19 cases, students will be forbidden from leaving the host county of the school, according to the New York Post.

The mandate will be in effect from Jan. 8 when students return for the spring 2022 semester and last through at least Feb. 15. Return of students will be staggered, the school said in a statement.

“Updated modeling suggests that staggering undergraduates’ return over ten days from January 14 – 23 will help flatten the curve of the campus positivity rate."

Of course, there's hardly any science that dictates this decision. The new Omicron variant, although more transmissible, is far less likely to result in a hospitalization as opposed to the Delta variant, per The New York Times. Students are even far less likely to be impacted.

Myles McKnight, a student at Princeton, told FOX that the rules make little sense, especially as it pertains to sports. The new mandate notably does not apply to sports teams that must travel to away games.

“Students aren’t able to leave for personal reasons the immediate counties surrounding Princeton University,” McKnight said. “But, of course, if the basketball team wants to travel to Indianapolis or anywhere else to play, that’s perfectly fine … So it is somewhat confusing, inconsistent, and I think frustrating for sure.”

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