Around a dozen students at Liberty University in Virginia have reported being sick with symptoms that are consistent with covid-19, according to the New York Times.

School President Jerry Falwell Jr. asked students to return to campus last week after spring break.

Students returning to campus are now reportedly being directed to self-quarantine for two weeks, while Falwell told the Times that about 800 of the 1,900 students who initially returned to on-campus housing for spring semester had voluntarily returned home.

The physician who runs the evangelical school’s student-health service, Dr. Thomas Eppes Jr., told the newspaper that three students were referred to local hospitals while eight more were instructed to self-isolate.

“We’ve lost the ability to corral this thing,” Eppes said he told Falwell.

"Jeff Brittain, a Liberty parent, wrote on Twitter: 'I’m as right wing as they get, bud. But as a parent of three of your students, I think this is crazy, irresponsible and seems like a money grab.' Mr. Falwell replied, calling him a 'dummy.'"https://t.co/WLiE6Ij6qS

— Jennifer Taub (@jentaub) March 29, 2020

“‘I’m not allowed to talk to you because I’m an employee here,’ one student living on campus wrote in an email. But, he pleaded, ‘we need help to go home.’” https://t.co/JRselMgRia

— Katie Phang (@KatiePhang) March 29, 2020

NEW: Jerry Falwell strongly implied to local officials that Liberty University would stay closed. Then he reopened it, and made it sound like he had the local government's support. (He didn't.) https://t.co/s3LQCHDt4T

— Noah Shachtman (@NoahShachtman) March 24, 2020

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