NOTRE DAME — "The Observer," a student newspaper for the University of Notre Dame, nearby Saint Mary's College and Holy Cross College, ran a somber editorial on Friday.
Titled, "Don't make us write obituaries." The students called on everyone to do their part to contain the coronavirus.
Notre Dame said Sunday it had 408 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the last 20 days among the campus community.
The editorial cited flaws in testing, contact tracing, and isolation inefficient with quarantine accommodations as reasonings for increasing numbers.
Writers also called on their fellow students to take the virus more seriously, ending on a somber note, saying:
Don't make us write a classmate's obituary.
Don't make us write a friend's obituary.
Don't make us write a roommate's obituary.
Don't make us write yours.
"We saw some of our peers taking coronavirus as maybe just a minor inconvenience for them," Mariah Rush, managing editor of The Observer, said. "Maybe they'll quarantine for two weeks, and maybe they'll bounce back, but it does have larger consequences for them since we don't really know the long term effects on young people, and it has larger consequences for the Notre Dame community and the surrounding South Bend community."
In response to the editorial, a spokesperson for the university said, "Students, faculty, and staff are all in this together, and it's only by working together that we can stay safe and continue to stay on campus for the remainder of the semester."
According to Notre Dame, if the virus continues to spread, the school will shift to remote learning for the rest of the semester.
