© Luuk Zegers
According to Sjef Moling, coordinator of the Annual Introduction Days on the university’s side, gastroenteritis currently runs through Wageningen. ‘The GP told me that he had seen many people affected during the weekend.’ He adds that AID participants are especially susceptible, as they can have a lowered immunity following the introduction and its parties. ‘They sleep less and are more active. This lets a virus spread more easily.’
The AID board uses volunteers and the mobile AID application to warn prospective first-year students to wash their hands more often before and after eating, as well as after visiting the restrooms. Before the barbecue on Monday, volunteers were present on the bridge to offer people disinfectant gel to people. AID participants were not allowed to enter the premises without disinfecting their hands first.
Moling says that he has not yet been contacted by any AID participants who have lost their mentors to this. ‘If that comes to be, we will look on a case by case basis whether we can place them with another group.’