The University of Vermont is promising to “take strong and swift action” against students who violated the school’s COVID-19 safety restrictions at a Lake Champlain beach in Burlington.
On Saturday, hundreds of young people flocked to Burlington’s North Beach to enjoy the summer-like weather.
UVM Vice President Gary Derr says that if UVM students at the beach weren’t social distancing or wearing masks they could be subject to school discipline. At the beginning of the semester, the students agreed to follow Vermont’s COVID-19 guidelines.
Derr said they are examining videos of people at the beach.
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“We are going to be looking that over,” Derr said. “We are going to be looking at other information we might have, and if we can successfully identify individuals that were up there that were violating university policy, we will take strong and swift action on this.”
The university reported nearly 100 new cases of COVID-19 last week. The total number of cases for the spring semester is now more than 500.
“Our message to everybody is not who was there or who wasn’t there,” Derr said. “We all need to be safe... Now is not the time to back down.”
