LYNCHBURG, Virginia — Jerry Falwell Jr. is denying a report that about a dozen students at Liberty University have symptoms of the coronavirus, less than a week after they made a controversial return to the main campus.

The New York Times reported on Sunday that three students have been referred to nearby hospitals for testing. Eight other students have been told to self-isolate on the campus.

Falwell told the Times that the university would be “notifying the community as deemed appropriate and required by law” about anyone from the school testing positive. However, Scott Lamb, the school’s senior vice president of communications, told USA Today that the Times’ story was “false.” Lamb said an online student who does not live on campus has tested positive.

“Contrary to the Times’ reporting, Liberty is not aware of any students in its residence halls testing positive for COVID-19 or, in fact, being tested at all, much less any residence hall students having sufficient symptoms of COVID-19 prompting the need to get tested based on current CDC guidelines,” Liberty said in a statement to USA Today.

But Dr. Thomas W. Eppes Jr., the physician who runs Liberty’s student health service, told the Times of the nearly dozen students who are showing signs of being ill. Falwell tells the Times that about 800 of the nearly 2,000 students who returned to campus last week had since left. Falwell said last week that students who want to withdraw from classes for the semester would receive a $1,000 credit toward next year’s classes.

In an email to the Times, an unidentified student wrote “we need help to get home.” City officials in Lynchburg have been highly critical of Falwell’s decision to allow students to return, with Mayor Treney Tweedy calling it “reckless.”

Nearly all colleges and universities in the nation have told students to stay home, including Ohio State, Kent State, the University of Akron, Cleveland State University and other Northeast Ohio schools. Liberty University is one of the largest evangelical schools in the nation, normally with about 15,000 students taking classes on campus.

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