keep in mind the majority of students will be vaccinated so cases will be low. Again not only Tufts. Harvard and BU also testing once or twice/per week.
Would you rather them not test at all?
I think it will be fluid and will change as the virus changes. Looser restrictions with low numbers and more restrictions with higher numbers. Last year Tufts loosened with low numbers and added more testing during the spikes.
I donāt think schools should be testing vaccinated kids - no.
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Right, and some internationals will be vaccinated too.
Schools have to decide if they will allow those vaccinated with WHO approved vaccines which arenāt approved in the US (AZ, Sinopharm, maybe more) to count as vaccinated.
Internationals vaccinated with non-who approved vaccines will likely need to get vaccinated hereā¦but thereās no data on double vaccinating like that either.
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they have to arrive 14 days earlier on campus and have a mandatory quarantine
what about breakthrough cases?
The rules seem random and not well coordinated. ALL unvaccinated kids should have to present a negative test (within 72 hours prior to arrival) AND quarantine for 10 days with a negative test at the end. Then they should be encouraged to get vaccinated.
Some schools are requiring the vaccines so Iām thinking theyāll have to implement a plan to vaccinate those internationals that donāt meet that requirement.
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The fact is that you donāt really know. Youāre a student.
I donāt see why any school would be making different rules than the CDC especially since CDC guidance is for the whole country and way fewer Americans are vaccinated overall compared to a campus where 98 percent of the people are vaccinated.
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Thatās more-or-less what Canada does. Weāre all over the map here in the US.
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As of now, people with breakthrough cases are thought to not be contagiousā¦but that could change of course due to new data, or a new variant. Suffice to say, right now, CDC guidance for vaccinated people is masks indoors not required (outside of health care settings).
Iām hoping the schools will get it together before the kids arrive on campus next month.
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Thatās a little insulting. I think us students may know best!!
We actually lived it. We tested every other day for the entire year. We saw our asymptomatic friends go into isolation for ten days and dealt with contact tracing while trying to juggle studying and keeping our sanity. We wore masks for 10 months straight, took virtual classes, stayed 6 feet apart, lost our sports and in-person activities, and so much more. So with all respect, yes I do know!
Are you still afraid of the virus if youāre vaccinated? Youāve read the latest news, right? Very very few (like almost NO) vaccinated people are in the hospital with Covid. Many examples out there of parties where all unvaccinated people caught Covid and ZERO of the vaccinated people did. If the vast majority of people on campus are vaccinated, itās current guidance to not wear masks.
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And you all got vaccinated so you wouldnāt have to do that again.
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Iām not afraid at all. Iām not making the school policy. Iām following it!
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Many schools have said theyāll accept WHO approved vaccines. Some went even further and will accept any vaccine thatās been approved by their country where the international students come from.
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From the CDC website
- You can resume activities without wearing a mask or staying 6 feet apart, except where required by federal, state, local, tribal, or territorial laws, rules, and regulations, including local business and workplace guidance.
Hence: Businesses and so forth can have their own requirements
Also concerning! Some of those vaccines have lower efficacy rates against original Covid and have they been studied/trialed against the variants?
What do you think about Tufts policy not be aligned with current CDC guidelines?
Whatās going to happen if schools, workplaces etc simply decide they are going to do what they want to do, regardless of CDC guidance?
I do think there can be situations where a more conservative path is chosen, but sounds like tufts will have a very high vaccination rate, so a more conservative path doesnāt seem to be based on science.
Some will undoubtedly askā¦why should they get vaccinated if thereās no benefit to doing so, e.g.everyone has to mask indoors?
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We are not doing that again. We are having in person classes, sports, activities and clubs. We are not social distancing. We are gathering outdoors without masks. We donāt have a limit on who we can gather with. We are not testing 3 times/week.