In the last week, more than 80% of students at St John’s College within the University of Queensland (UQ) travelled home to contain the spread of COVID-19 in the UQ community.

The 109-year-old College decided last Monday 16 March to encourage its student body to depopulate the premises, where possible, to reduce risk for students and ensure they could safely travel home before any outbreak forced a lockdown.

The decision followed UQ’s announcement on Sunday 15th March of a week-long suspension of all coursework and a plan to deliver the vast majority of lectures and tutorials online from 23 March 2020.

The Warden, Ms Rose Alwyn said that no St John’s student had been diagnosed with the virus and that the move was pre-emptive. “Reducing the number of students at the College was a sensible, preventative measure, focused on reducing the number of people affected by the novel coronavirus.

The Prime Minister, Scott Morrison has indicated the virus could take six months to run its course. We are doing our part to care for our students, staff and local communities over that period,” she said.

Ms Alwyn said St John’s College will remain open to accommodate students who are unable to return home.

“At present, we have less than 45 students in residence, compared with 307 a week ago. This makes it a lot easier for us to enact social distancing measures and prepare for the possibility of an outbreak at the College,” she said.

“Life at St John's College is vastly different today than it has been at any point in our 109- year history. On the positive side, our students are safe. They are with their loved ones and continuing their studies remotely.

“I have been very impressed by our College community's response to the crisis throughout this time. By acting early, we believe we have helped to reduce the spread of the virus and set a positive example for other Australian residential colleges,” she said.

St John’s College is hopeful it can resume full operations as soon as it is safe.