The student who has been tested positive for the coronavirus has been confirmed to have spent a night in Student Vita York, a private student accommodation service on Lawrence Street.
An email sent to student press has confirmed that the student rents accommodation with Student Vita and spent a night there after being exposed to the virus.
The University initially stated that the student had not stayed in student accommodation “when first exposed to the virus and has not been on campus or in student accommodation at any time since”.
This breakthrough will no doubt shock York students, who had been led to believe all student accommodation had been left out of reach of contamination rather than just that on campus.
Public Health England (PHE) confirmed that although they stayed overnight, “the student did not meet other residents or staff… or make use of the communal facilities”.
They will not be aiming to conduct any further investigations of Vita and have maintained that the risk of further transmission of the virus is “negligible.”
The University has been quick to disseminate information to students over e-mail, with around a half dozen emails sent over the weekend, and the student population has remained calm but as they are limited by the speed of investigations performed by PHE, it appears there may still be more information to come out.