UA students moved out of dorm to make room for COVID-19 positive students

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (WBRC) - Move out day started much sooner than some University of Alabama students could have imagined.

“It could have been handled better. We could have got more days in advance cause it’s a lot of stuff. And a lot of our parents are not down here to help,” Kayla Torbet said. She is one of several students who were notified they had to move out Mary Burke Hall West.

“Not giving a lot of details, not a lot of time and not really knowing where she’s going. She’s a freshman. It’s a scary thing,” Delikua Winton, the parent of another student added.

Tuesday, the University told WBRC in a statement, that these students “were being moved to a new space to consolidate housing and make rooms available in Burke West for expanded COVID-19 isolation facilities.”

On Monday, we asked University of Alabama President Stuart Bell about the school’s plans to deal with coronavirus, hours before the school announced students at Burke Hall West would have to move out. “What I think we have done here in the last five minutes is yes, develop a really strong plan. But a plan is only as good as you implement the plan and the results from the plan and we knew we would have to be nimble,” Bell explained.

Winton called the school’s decision to move her daughter and others out of their dorm so soon into the start of fall semester, an ominous sign. “If it gets to the point where kids are having to move, just getting comfortable, not being here even a week, I think its time for the university to take a little bit higher measures by basically letting children go home,” Winton went on to say.

By moving students out of Mary Burke Hall West, the University now has three on-campus apartments or dorms to house students who test positive for coronavirus.

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