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Coronavirus social distancing measures on the Colorado Springs Air Force Academy campus will be relaxed following the back-to-back deaths of two cadets in suspected suicides, officials said.
While all underclassmen are learning online, the senior class has remained on campus. The students were spread throughout dormitories and each was given their own room as part of quarantine measures.
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One cadet tested positive for COVID-19 last week, the academy said.
The United States Air Force Academy Cadet Chapel, a triangular steel structure with a frame of 100 identical tetrahedrons. (M.Torres / iStock)
Since those measures to limit the spread of COVID-19 were put into place weeks ago, two cadets have died within days of each other. The first death was reported Thursday and another on Saturday. USAFA said the deaths were not related to COVID-19 and investigators did not suspect foul play.
“These are deaths from despair,” Katrina Knight, the mother of a class of 2020 cadet, told FOX21 Colorado Springs. “Our hearts are grieving as a community because a couple of class members have already suffered the impacts to the furthest extent that they could.”
The senior class was kept on campus because “our Air and Space Forces have deemed us essential to their missions,” USAFA superintendent Lt. Gen. Jay Silveria said in an email sent Monday to students and later obtained by local news outlets.
Now, seniors will be allowed to venture off campus for food and hold on-campus events, according to the email. Silveria said that he met with the senior class and spoke with top Pentagon officials before changing the policy.
“We are working several morale events like golf or an outdoor movie that allow them to connect and keep them healthy,” the email said. “We continue to provide round the clock access to mental health services and support through this tragic loss.”
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Silveria said he will invite students to use his on-campus backyard for small-group barbecues, Colorado Springs newspaper The Gazette reported.
“Our goal in weighing each option continues to be both mental and physical health, along with turning our nearly 1,000 First-Class cadets into lieutenants in 59 days,” Silveria said.
The school later announced on Wednesday that graduation will be moved up six weeks to April 18 as students and faculty continue to grapple with the deaths.
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“I have invited the Class of 2020 to help the staff design their graduation ceremony and they will do this with the same care for military tradition and the Academy’s legacy as they’ve done leading other world-class Academy events,” Silveria said.
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