But… they said that kids don’t get Covid and Schools are not a spreading risk. They meaning anyone without common sense.
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This situation at Rice is so crazy. So now it looks like almost 50 of the 72 positives were false positives. They have tested each person two times since and almost 50 have gotten 2 negatives. Still waiting on the final test results for some. Right now the count of undergrads who tested positive is 7. It’s very unfortunate for these kids to have had orientation week disrupted like this. It’s such a big part of the Rice experience and 50 of them spent it in isolation. Now the kids are waiting to see if they roll back any of the restrictions they implemented this week.
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Re: University to only accept FDA-approved vaccines - The Johns Hopkins News-Letter
Or did JHU just not want to name a specific vaccine that they believe is not effective enough? The Oxford - AstraZeneca (Covishield in some places) vaccine is relatively common, and it WHO approved, but has generally been found to have lower effectiveness than any of the vaccines used in the US.
@PrdMomto1 Does it look like all of the false positives were undergrads? In that case, they would have thought that nearly 60 undergrads tested positive in a week, when in reality, only 7 tested positive. That’s a huge difference, especially in risk of spread. In that case, I would imagine they would roll back the additional restrictions on campus life, but not sure whether they would immediately change classes back to in-person (hard to do once you have said first two weeks will be online and encouraged students not yet on-campus to wait to move in).
Yes, Clemson has continued wastewater testing on campus, and they test the surrounding areas off campus. They’ve also continued weekly testing regardless of vaccine status.
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I don’t have the exact numbers of how many undergrads vs. other groups were false positives but I think the majority were undergrads. I think about 50. They panicked a bit at first I think because at a small school with a high vac rate, they weren’t prepared for those kind of numbers and did not have the isolation space for everyone. AND the rest of the undergrad population was due to arrive this weekend with classes starting Monday. They delayed the start of classes 2 days - I assume to give the professors some time to prepare for now virtual instruction. I agree that they will likely keep things virtual since many students have changed their travel plans to arrive Labor Day weekend since the school asked those who could to delay their arrival. I wonder if they MIGHT allow professors to offer a hybrid class for 2 weeks if they prefer. We’ll see. I think the kids are hoping they will lift the 'no eating inside except your room" rule and allow campus to be ‘wet’ again.
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Where are you? That is just an insane number!
It’s absurd. Classes start in a week. Internationals and Americans living abroad have already uploaded their vaccine proof. Their travel plans and expectations for the start of the year have now been disrupted and they will be considered “unvaxed” most likely for the next five or six weeks. Who’s running the show over there - the medical experts or the legal team?
Just checked and UChicago has not changed its policy at this time - any WHO or FDA-approved vaccine is still acceptable - and students have till 9/1 to upload proof of vaccine. Deadline has passed for employees. I doubt they will throw such a curveball at their students, even if it’s more convenient to track fewer vaccines. AZ might be less effective than Pfizer, but it’s still pretty effective. And the entire campus is vaxed. Same, by the way, with JHU.
The article also has a table of vaccination requirements of over 120 colleges NBC News analyzed.
That’s is a very incomplete table. The first few I looked up weren’t on it.
You’re right. I edited the post. Thanks.
Our school district is allowing remote learning for students only if a medical note is given by their physician for this coming school year. Once approved, students must stay remote for the duration of the school year. Otherwise as of this writing, the district plans to offer in person learning five days a week. There was a survey for parents with regards to transportation to and from school sent a couple of weeks back so bus planning can be made in advance. The district strongly encourages kids be dropped off and picked up to and from school but this is not always possible. Bus sitting assignments will be given (for easier contact tracing I assume) and masks mandate is in effect indoors, in the bus and outdoors if you are unvaccinated and in close distance with others. Sports especially contact sports are being evaluated for severity of risks and will be communicated to parents and students if it will be resumed this fall or not. It will depend on so many factors like cases in the community, the number of transmissions, etc.
I am so glad that our district is doing the best they can for the safety of our students, teachers and supporting staff and of course our community.
I can sort of understand it with K-12 (although not the once you’re remote you’re always remote) but IMHO it’s not acceptable from colleges. They have the infrastructure in place from last year. Heck they probably have taped lectures from last year they could make available.
$82K should include academic Covid infection contingencies. Just my opinion.
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Colgate is discontinuing the waste water testing this year.
Yes, I think this is part of the challenge: colleges are starting at almost exactly the wrong time - when the Delta variant is causing a spike in infection.
It’s so disappointing. A few months ago things were looking up.
My best guess is that this upcoming semester will be a bit of a mess (and I say this as someone who is in front of students). Yes, the risks of death and serious illness are considerably less for vaccinated individuals. But there is still a lot of Covid around, and this variant is super-catchy and serious.
So, I think there will be outbreaks on campus. In some instances, this will force things to go online for a bit. Hopefully, by the winter, things will have stabilised, and some normality will return.
tl;dr: It might be bumpy this Fall.
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My young friend at Georgia Tech is not off to a good start. Professor for first class was a no-show, professor for second class quit and his last minute replacement is quarantined for covid. Hope things improve there
Yikes!
And last year they started during the summer spike which caused some universities to reverse themselves last minute and disinvite portions of the undergraduate program to campus. Many had already pushed forward the start date so as to finish by TG so couldn’t really push it back again. This pandemic has really had horrible timing for those schools on the semester system!
Hi Homerdog,
we corresponded last year - my S goes to Bowdoin. He took last 2020 fall semester off when Bowdoin went fully remote (we corresponded re: that decision summer 2020). my S went back last spring (2021) and leaving in a few days for Fall 2021- a Bio major/ econ minor. will start fall 2021 a 2nd semester sophomore since no credit given for courses at local college fall 2020. Not clear how or if my S will be able to graduate May 2023 with his regular freshman class. Is your S in similar situation? I recall at the time Bowdoin saying they would work with students who took fall 2020 semester off. we asked for update to Bow April but no reply. may have to play it by ear but interested to hear any advice/ thoughts from your side. Thank you,
Profs here at Redstate Flagship: combination of quitting and defying admin, telling students to mask or risk loss of in-person class, just plain old asking them to mask up. Students seem receptive to “please put your mask on, I have some up here if you need one.” Some profs are simply going straight to zoom (including me, though I’m not teaching till next month).
There’s a bit of covid safety theatre going on given the transmissibility of delta – you really need an N95 if you’re sitting in classrooms for hours – but it’s better than nothing.
Buildings are full of unmasked, likely unvaxed students, though, and they’ll be breathing all over staff and each other.