Michael Lochhead, executive vice president and acting vice president for student affairs, sent an email to students on Thursday denying COVID-19 rumors that have been circulating in the Boston College community.
“Contrary to rumors and an image of a fraudulent email that has been shared on social media, Boston College is not going into lockdown on Friday,” Lochhead’s email said.
The fake email—which was dated Feb. 18, 2020—was attributed to Lochhead and Provost and Dean of Faculties David Quigley, and said that the University would enter into a two-week lockdown starting Friday.
“As expressed in previous emails, it has come to our attention that the number of students in quarantine and isolation surpass our capacity of space,” the false email said. “As a consequence of this, a two-week lockdown will be instituted this friday.”
Multiple students told The Heights that they did not receive the fake notice through email, but that they received a photo of it from other students, including in residence hall group chats and on Snapchat.
“If you’ve come this far into reading this email, congratulations. Its fake :),” the fake email said.
In his email dispelling the rumors, Lochhead also asked students to keep following University expectations and public health guidelines in order to limit the spread of COVID-19.
BC has reported 66 undergraduate cases of COVID-19 out of 7,937 tests since Monday, a positivity rate of .83 percent. There are 139 undergraduate students in isolation as of Thursday, with 89 in isolation housing and 50 recovering at home.
Featured Image by Aneesa Wemers / Heights Staff
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