Spring Breakers Get the Coronavirus

15 Florida students test positive for COVID-19
By Neal Colgrass,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 22, 2020 4:00 PM CDT
Spring Breakers Get the Coronavirus
Spring break revelers party on the beach, Tuesday, March 17, 2020, in Pompano Beach, Fla. These students are not known to have contracted the coronavirus.   (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

Spring breakers partied hard in Florida last week despite the coronavirus pandemic and now, well, some bad news: Five from the University of Tampa have tested positive for COVID-19, WKBN reports. The school says they were "traveling together with other UT students during spring break" and "are self-isolating," four of them on campus. None have been sent to the hospital. The Tampa Bay Times adds that 10 students and one employee have tested positive at the University of Florida in Gainesville, while an employee at USF Tampa tested positive after interacting with 13 students.

Another Times article notes that the employee—who's now self-isolating at home—was on campus twice during the week of March 9 before testing positive. "We understand that these are uncertain times, and the rapidly shifting news is unsettling for us all," says USF President Steve Currall. "We are facing a challenge that is unprecedented." That differs slightly from the words of a student caught on video while partying at spring break: "If I get corona, I get corona," he said. "At the end of the day, I'm not going to let it stop me from partying." (See how Florida officials reacted to the spring breakers.)

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