AMES, Iowa — Iowa State University is suspending all study abroad programs to Italy in response to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevent raising the travel alert warning regarding COVID-19.
Drew Simon, an ISU student studying abroad in Italy, tells Local 5 that students received emails giving them an ultimatum: find a flight home before March 6 or risk implications of "no travel support from Iowa State, no guarantee of academic credit, be removed from the schools international health and state insurance, and possibly have complications with student visas."
"I think there was a concern that students were going to stay in the country because we felt safer in the country," Simon explained. "I think they felt scared they were going to be held liable if we did stay in the country and got sick. So, I think there were scare tactics used to get us back home."
The email also says to let the college know when the student lands and to monitor their health for 14 days following their return.
In part, the email reads:
"Based on information provided by the CDC and the State Department, ISU is no longer supporting sponsored travel within Italy, including business and independent travel by students, employees and affiliates. Any subsequent travel will not be supported by the university."
Iowa State University tells Local 5 the Thielen Student Health Center is providing health-related information based on CDC guidelines for all travelers returning from Italy to self-isolate.
You can see Iowa State's campus resource on Covid 19 here.