The MA schools that have announced weekly testing may increase the frequency once they see they see the local case counts. The Broad scaled up rapidly last fall, eventually performing as many as 150K tests/day this spring. Northeastern also plans to test weekly.
I do not know the specifics of the schools listed (and no idea what Princeton’s plans are), but wastewater testing is also more widespread now than it was a year ago. I am guessing that schools will employ a combination of mitigation and testing strategies, and will have to evolve as needs dictate.
We can debate this all we want, but schools will change their policy as conditions require.
I know students at Notre Dame and Wake Forest who had to quarantine alone in a hotel room last year. One was quarantined twice and one three times. Neither had CV but had been exposed via roommate or suite mate.
Unless good data comes out saying that vaccinated people under 75 are contracting severe acute Covid or severe long Covid, I hope that my daughter’s college does not spend money testing students multiple times a week. I would far rather they spend that money enforcing a vaccine mandate, and educating any hesitant staff and students about the vaccine.
But if a school is only doing weekly or monthly testing then it’s not super serious about stopping Covid spread and isolating cases after they find them doesn’t make much sense. Either follow the science and do it right (find kids right when they start being contagious by testing often) or don’t make kids isolate. Monthly testing? That means for three weeks some positive cases are walking around and maybe shedding virus and then the unlucky kids who test positive at the monthly testing miss class while those other kids got away without isolating? That’s just an odd system.
I have heard BC is denying religious exemptions for Catholics. When BC, a catholic school, is not allowing students/faculty to use Catholicism as a reason to get a religious exemption, it is a good sign that religious exemptions at schools are going to be few and far between.
The school might only be able to afford monthly testing. That is better than no testing even if it is worse than weekly testing.
My 23 year old sister has Covid right now. She is in medical school and they had a end of year ball Two weeks ago and she and her friends went clubbing in the newly reopened clubs as well around then.
Thankfully she received a contact tracing alert and sought out testing before she came home to our parents for the summer. She was fully vaccinated. She is now isolating with her house mates in their college town.
Even if she was vaccinated and government guidance is that she is a low risk spreader, when it comes to our parents safety she has had a personal zero tolerance policy for risk.
I agree with her on that and don’t understand why people are resistant to minor inconveniences that would protect loved ones and their community.
Anyone on a campus who wants to get tested or is concerned about spreading Covid to fellow students or family can continue to wear a mask or get tested, but no one wants to go back to college 2020, especially if a huge percentage on campus are vaccinated.
Your example of your D is the story of one person making the decision to protect her loved ones. It’s completely different from a mask or testing mandate on a college campus that affects the entire college experience negatively.
"To be clear, for meetings in an enclosed US House of Representatives controlled space, masks are REQUIRED, “Failure to wear a mask in the Hall of the House is subject to fines imposed for violation as contained in the previous House rule.” - [House ] Attending Physician Brian Monahan
I also agree with you on this. And of course your sister was right to test and isolate away from your parents.
I also disagree with calling testing “theater”. It is clearly more useful to have higher frequency testing, and we saw firsthand last year that 3x per week testing at schools was incredibly effective at preventing outbreaks, but that may not be feasible or useful everywhere for an assortment of reasons ($, access to labs, etc). And I also think we really have no clue how frequently (or who) schools will be testing in September, regardless of what they say they plan on doing at this point. But I don’t agree that any testing is pure theater or a waste. Sure, if you test less frequently, you will miss some cases entirely, and be late to warn some infected people to isolate, but you will always catch SOME people at the beginning of their contagious period, or in the middle of their contagious period, and they then have the knowledge to isolate and prevent infecting some people they otherwise would have. Less frequent testing may not eliminate covid on campus, but it should always reduce risk and spread. I think it no longer averages anywhere near 2-3 days to get results, at least not in college settings. In the northeast, schools using Broad were getting very rapid results—the Boston schools were getting PCR test results in less than 6 hours typically, and other further-located schools were averaging under 12 hours, depending on how many times a day they sent a van with their tests to Broad and their distance to Cambridge. These results are definitely useful in getting information to people to isolate. I am glad my kids’ school has a vaccine mandate—I believe that’s the #1 way to protect everyone. But adding in testing is only a good thing in my eyes. It was convenient and easy to do, and it can stop (some) spread. I think vaccines coupled with testing should be able to stop this thing in its tracks on campus. I would hope that after a couple of weeks, with the international kids getting vaccinated and students initially bringing in breakthrough cases from low-vaccinated areas of the country, etc, that they will start seeing zero positives among the test results . I’m all for it!
So you’re ok with your vaccinated student missing seven to ten days of class if they test positive? It really is not proven that all vaccinated but positive Covid cases are contagious. And some of the schools with these types of programs won’t have anywhere for her to isolate either. THIS is the problem. There aren’t cohesive plans for all of that at some schools doing testing.
I totally agree no one wants to go back to College 2020. But I think vaccine mandates coupled with testing is how to do that. Reducing or eliminating covid on campus will allow for the good things—the in person classes, the ECs, the parties, the gatherings of people, the in person lab work, etc. So long as they aren’t quarantining vaccinated close contacts (so far I haven’t heard of that), i see nothing bad about isolating people who test positive. Stinks for them—they’ll have to watch that week’s lectures on video or get the notes—but protects the community at large. And unlike 2020/spring 2021, they won’t be subject to repeated quarantines, worst case you get covid once during the school year. And hopefully with the vaccine mandates and the testing from the get-go, there won’t be very many students who have to do it at all . ETA: yes, i am ok with my vaccinated kids having to isolate for what will probably be a week if they test positive (NOT if they are merely close contacts). But with the combination of a vaccine mandate, frequent testing that will stop chains of transmission, and isolating the (few) kids who test positive, i think the odds that my kids will have to isolate are VERY low. Whereas if we let this just spread Willy-nilly (as it now is very sadly looking like even vaccinated people can spread it), they may be more likely overall to catch it (and possibly get some miserable-although-not-likely-hospital-worthy-symptoms that would keep them out of class anyway). I’d rather they not be exposed to covid than prevent them from having a tiny chance of having to isolate for a week. Plus, they are responsible, caring people, who I don’t think want to walk around exposing people needlessly. I could imagine rules evolving over time. It may be that people who test positive but are absolutely symptom-free may be advised to isolate as much as possible, but to wear an N95 mask and very much social distance during their week long period and to absolutely stay far from vulnerable people (while people with symptoms may need to completely isolate). Who wouldn’t want to be able to be cautious around others if they could know they were positive? The answer at some schools might be that some kids wouldn’t care at all (remember the bets about who can catch covid first?), but the culture at my kids school, most of them would care and wouldn’t want to needlessly spread it. I think the odds that your kid will miss a week of classes is HIGHER if they don’t do testing and they let the virus spread. ETA: In regards to missing a week of class due to isolating if you test positive: Even young people get quite miserably sick-feeling from this (a decent portion of them), worse than a bad cold, that will not only make them miss class but affect their performance and ability to concentrate. I think it’s better not to get sick.
Well, like I mentioned before and @Luckyjade2024 agreed, S19 cannot miss a week of class. It’s really kind of unimaginable to him. He’d be so behind. As it is, his work load is intense and missing lectures, labs, and discussions to isolate if he’s caught as an asymptomatic case doesn’t make sense.
More accurately, both the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (joint statement from the Committee on Doctrine and Committee on Pro-Life) have issued very clear guidelines on the moral acceptability of Covid vaccines. Therefore, it’s going to be very hard for a Catholic to claim a “religious exemption” due to their Catholic faith. They may claim a conscience exemption, but “religious” won’t cut it.
Neither the pope’s jesuit charism nor BC’s jesuit roots has anything to do with Catholic doctrine nor Catholic teaching on this subject, since both are the result of hundreds of years of theological thinking and commentary. JPII’s or B16’s pontificate would not have produced any different result.
I’d be very surprised if any Catholic college or university in the United States issued an exemption to a Catholic based on “religion” - would love to see the theology behind that decision! When a doctrinal committee has commented, that’s supposed to be taken seriously by all Catholics. This doesn’t mean, of course, that one must take the vaccine or that a Catholic university must implement a mandate. But if a Catholic school does so and allows a religious exemption, being a Catholic will likely fail to make the case.
Every kid I know in NY who put in for religious exemption at catholic schools was granted exemption. That’s the easiest way to get exempt. BC is the only one I know not granting it.
From Notre Dame
The University also offers students the opportunity to apply for medical or religious exemptions. Exemptions are determined on a case-by-case basis, and in each case must be supported by specific documentation. To request an exemption, students should email UHS at immunizations@nd.edu. Please make sure to include your NDID#.
From Villanova:
As with other vaccines required to attend Villanova, exemptions may be requested for medical and religious reasons.
Georgetown:
Medical and religious exemptions will be granted in accordance with federal and local law.
Requests for a medical or religious exemption must be submitted by Monday, July 19, 2021, for students, and Monday, July 26, 2021 for employees.
I hope those exempt kids have to pay for testing and wear masks. I honestly thought that’s the way it would be on vaccine-mandated campuses. Testing and masking for those unvaccinated. Normal life for the rest. Still makes sense to me considering the low low rate of hospitalization or death for the vaccinated. Again, the vaccine was not meant to stop all infections. If more people were vaccinated, Delta would have been stopped in its tracks. This is all the fault of the unvaccinated. I still fail to see why a student who is vaccinated needs to wear a mask and be tested to protect those who decided not to vaccinate.
Colleges should make it miserable for those who don’t vaccinate because they don’t “want to”. Different ballgame for those who cannot vaccinate but it really doesn’t seem like there are many true medical exemptions?
. I’m all for it!