Over 70 Columbia students have been punished due to violating Covid-19 travel restrictions.

The group of MBA students broke strict protocol when they took a group trip to Turks and Caicos. According to University of Columbia’s spokesperson, Christopher Cashman, this goes against the school’s strict Covid-19 guidelines. The guidelines state that both official and organized group travel is prohibited for all students. This is to reduce the outbreak of the Covid-19 virus amongst students and staff members.

The virus has currently infected 12.4 million Americans and has killed over 257k.

The students have been banned from attending any of the program’s classes and must participate online only until December 1st. Cashman stated that any student who breaks protocol again will face harsher punishments. “All of this is being done to protect the broader health of our community and, thankfully, to date our positive case rate remains low,” Cashman said.