ITHACA, N.Y. — When Cornell University administrators emailed students last week, sobs were heard in libraries and labs. People wiped tears from friends’ faces — then slathered on hand sanitizer.

After spring break, the email said, they should not come back. The school would start to close dorms after March 28, and students were to go home; courses would be held online for the rest of the semester. Schools across the country followed suit, taking similar measures to help stop the spread of the coronavirus, which began to appear in more college populations this weekend.

A few days later, Cornell suspended classes altogether, for three weeks, to allow students to focus on getting home.

Separating people is, of course, precisely what such drastic measures are intended to do. But at ground level, they bring confusion and pain.