We're 'freaking out,' McMaster student says about possible coronavirus case on campus

Chantelle Castelino has read about the coronavirus infecting people around the worldbut as sheand the rest of McMaster University waits to hear if a fellow student has COVID-19, it's all becoming too real.

The second-year science student says her friends have been "freaking out" about potentially coming in contact with the virus.

"It's worrying that people here, where we go to school, could get infected."

McMaster University says an undergraduate student who may have the virus started experiencing flu-like symptoms after returning from a trip to Italy during the week of Feb. 17.

The school adds that the student lives outside of Hamilton, sought medical attention and is currently in self-isolation.

But, a recent update on the university's website notes the student visited the Burke Science Building on Tuesday, Feb. 25 a building with a lot of traffic.

"I have a decent amount of classes in that building so I did not know that and that's a bit concerning, but I'm sure they've done their proper sanitations, hopefully," Castelino says.

Danny Al-Sammak, a first-year engineering student at McMaster, says it was "really scary" finding out about a potential coronavirus case.

"You never know who it may have been and where they've been and if you've come into contact with that. It's a bit of paranoia it could be anyone," he says.

Andrea Farquhar, McMaster's assistant vice-president of communications and public affairs, tells CBC News while extra cleaning was "not required," custodians were in early Sunday morning focusing on the first floor of the building, going over all hard surfaces and common areas.

"The advice is regular cleaning is what works well and it's sufficient for dealing with anything around this virus but we really wanted to take the perspective of 'what would we want' if we were a student or an employee," she says.

"We don't have a positive test result but we thought it was important just for the comfort level of people that we increase the level of cleaning over the weekend of the one building that the student was in."

Some students hope everyone is extra vigilant by washing their hands and avoiding contact with others.

"I really hope people take precautions because if we do it's less likely to spread," Al-Sammak, who has one class in the Burke Science Building, says.

"I haven't told my parents and I don't plan on telling them. I know my mom would go crazy."

Others don't think it's too serious.

"It's just like some students who get the flu or get the cold if one of your friend gets the flu, how do you feel about that? It's probably similar,"Joanna Wang, a master's student says.

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Beth Sideris knows all about people getting sick she's a student and volunteer emergency medical responder on campus.

"Usually if we were going to a patient who has any respiratory illness, we would come and put on our mask and gloves and wouldn't really think much of it, but now we're taking a little more caution," Sideris says.

"If we are seeing a patient who may have been outside of Canada, we may be taking extra caution we're putting full coverage on [ourselves]like N95 masks, goggles, full gloves, as well as a gown."

Teacher wants school to address inequities tied to virus

There are currently 20 confirmed coronavirus cases in Canada, including 11 in Ontario, but no reported deaths.

As the virus is also reaching more people in Italy, Iran, Iraq and South Korea, reports of discrimination toward racialized communities are also rising and at least one McMaster faculty member feels the school needs to do more to prepare for those same issues reaching campus.

"That attention on cleaning may not be enough to help people feel reassured and safe going forward," Ameil Joseph, an associateprofessor in the school of social work, tells CBC News.

"Limited information can actually create other kinds of problems and those problems don't land on everyone equally. If we are paying attention to people coming from particular countries where outbreaks are more severe we have reports of people already experiencing racism because of their suspected proximity to particular countries."

Farquhar says the school has no reports of any racial incidents tied to the virus, but encourages students to come forward if they do experience anything of the sort.

Though, Joseph also points out not every staff member may be able to get away from work and not every student may be able to get away from school.

"There's already systemic inequities that would land on people differently and I think people would expect a kind of robust plan that affects more than cleaning."

The undergraduate student's results are expected to be available early this week.