‘I won’t be canceling those plans’: UW-Madison students still plan on traveling during spring break, despite chancellor’s advice not to

Students say they spent too much time on plans and money on airline fees that don't offer refunds

Jamie Perez by Jamie Perez

MADISON, Wis. — Students at University of Wisconsin – Madison are still planning on taking their spring break trips, despite advice from the school’s chancellor to reconsider.

Chancellor Rebecca Blank issued a statement advising students, faculty and staff to not travel over spring break unless it’s necessary due to the Coronavirus outbreak.

The statement also says that any student who travels should monitor themselves for 14 days after they return. Those who are traveling to a high risk area for the Coronavirus are asked to self-quarantine for two weeks upon return.

Many students said the warning sent out by Blank was too close to their spring break plans, giving students less than ample time to prepare or to heed to her warning.

“I haven’t really thought about canceling it because I know that my mom has really been wanting to see me,” said UW-Madison junior, Tyson Holtz. “I’m going to be going to Florida and that would be a shame if I weren’t able to see my mom and have a break from studies.”

Holtz said he is graduating in May and this is his final spring break of college. He also said Blank’s request to self-quarantine for 14 days upon return isn’t likely to be followed by many students, either.

“I think that the university should at the very least make classes online for the first two weeks that people return from spring break knowing that everyone is going to be traveling against the chancellor’s advice, simply as a preventative measure so everyone can quarantine themselves and risk further spread of infection,” Holtz said. “If classes are held as they normally are, then students will most likely go for fear of losing attendance points and the infection is sure to continue spreading.”

Eddie Estevez, who also attends UW-Madison, said, “I know some students are still going on the trips that they were planning to go [on] throughout the U.S. The current situation in Europe has made me reconsider my own trip to Paris this spring break. I would cancel the trip, but American Airlines as well as AirBnb are not welcome to a complete refund even with what the university has said and even what government organizations and officials have said. This is really sad because I have to decide between risking my health and the health of those I’ll be in contact with or losing all the money (around $2000). I wish it was easier to cancel international plans given the current situation with the Coronavirus, but it is, ridiculously enough, not.”

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