Bates College is under a quarantine until early next week after an outbreak of COVID-19. Credit: CBS 13

Bates College has issued a shelter-in-place order for students in response to a sharp increase in active coronavirus cases on campus.

There are currently 34 active COVID-19 cases on the campus, and an additional 50 students are in quarantine, according to Bates College. The college is conducting contact tracing to identify any students who may have been exposed to the virus, and anticipate seeing the number of students in quarantine to increase.

Last week, Bates had reported a single case of COVID-19 on its campus.

The order issued on Thursday requires students to not leave campus and stay in their dorms or off-campus housing, except to get food, attend mandatory coronavirus testing, use bathroom facilities and attend to medical needs. This requirement will stay in place until next Tuesday.

Under this order, all courses will be conducted remotely until Wednesday.

Leela Stockley is an alumna of the University of Maine. She was raised in northern Maine, and loves her cat Wesley, her puppy Percy and staying active in the Maine outdoors.