@RosePetal35 - I hope you are right, but fear you are wrong. Amherst doesn’t have a good track record of loosening restrictions based on last year. And the article written by the Amherst student paints a very bleak picture of an administration not listening or empathizing with student concerns.
My son’s school is only requiring prearrival testing for unvaccinated people living in the dorms.
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I strongly disagree about their track record loosening restrictions last year. The middle of the spring semester looked very different from the beginning of the last fall semester. They started allowing delivery, started letting students go into other people’s dorms, began opening up indoor social spaces, etc. Even last week, the administration indicated they were planning on loosening many of the moderate restrictions on September 13. They strongly imply this in last night’s email as well, saying “we have decided to take a phased approach to the start of the Fall semester”, “We will start with somewhat stricter protocols for the next two and half weeks than I had announced eight days ago and open up as we go.”
Yes, and I heard that SDSU students are required to take another rapid test 2 days after move-in (this after testing negative twice before that). Not all CSU’s are doing the same amount of Covid testing though.
What actually happened was the rapid test they had to take to be allowed to move in the dorms was a two part test. So one part of the test prior to move in and the complete the test 36 hours hour. There are several breakthrough cases already. I don’t know the exact number but those kids are in a covid isolation dorm.
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Moved my daughter into her dorm at Simmons yesterday, and got a clearer sense of what the semester will look like (at least at the moment).
Students were rapid-tested before being given room keys. They were also “highly encouraged” to get a PCR test 3 days prior to arrival. Vax are required and weekly surveillance testing to be conducted.
Masks required indoors everywhere, except for in dorm rooms (which are shared). Within a single dorm building, students may congregate freely wherever they’d like (but masked if in the lounge areas). If they wish to visit another dorm building, there are restrictions: students may only host one guest at a time.
Overnight guest policy: limit to one “external” guest at a time. External, in this case, means a Simmons student from another dorm building or a student from one of the four other schools in the Colleges of the Fenway consortium (I think because they are all requiring vax and doing surveillance testing).
As of now, the majority of classes are planned to be held in-person (classes start Sept. 1).
They have not announced a parents weekend, but when asked, have provided the dates. My guess is this is on shaky ground and they’re not going to be promoting it heavily unless they are sure it can happen.
Most of these restrictions go into place on September 1st, and the school seems to be offering a lot of social activities and opportunities for kids to meet before then. I’m thankful that we’re likely looking at a good six weeks or so of nice weather for continued congregating opportunities outdoors on-campus.
Sigh. I had such high hopes at one point that this semester was going to be so much closer to normal.
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at RIT right now, social activities seem to happening, but this time of year many can be held outdoors. There will be a fall fest with club fair this weekend. Masking is currently required indoors. They did not ask for testing before arrival, but according to their dashboard so far only 6 cases with students. They will be doing wastewater testing again this year.
Very frustrating that classes seem to be about 60 percent in person based on input in the various parent groups; they wanted 80, but the professors got to choose it seems. And I feel like there is no excuse for asynch online (versus Synch). My son’s asynch class professor has not been heard from.
From the dashboard.
We begin the semester with a high vaccination rate among the RIT community: 96% of the student body has completed their vaccination paperwork and of that, 96% are fully vaccinated; 93% of employees are fully vaccinated. Unvaccinated students, faculty, and staff are tested weekly. Additionally, RIT is testing wastewater four times a week.
My kids are back on campus since last weekend and are SO HAPPY, so I’m so happy 
. Almost everyone is vaccinated (mandatory but internationals still getting it, etc), and the testing so far has turned up precious few cases. Obviously it stinks for those couple of kiddos as they’ll have to isolate, but my kids don’t know anyone that’s happened to, and classes don’t start until middle of next week—right now there’s just some orientation stuff, meetings with advisors, social activities planned (sounds like primarily outdoors) etc. so at least they should be all set by the time classes start. For now, their school is requiring masks in school-owned buildings, obviously not while eating (in-person this year!! Wahoo!!) and not in dorm rooms, etc. However, they are spending so much time outside in this glorious weather and hanging out in the dining halls and in each other’s rooms where masks are not required, which are all loaded with air purifiers (can have friends over again!), they do not consider the masking to be onerous and are not complaining about it and that’s great. A side benefit of no a/c and lots of end-of-summer heat—in addition to the air purifiers, every room has windows fully open with box fans going full speed 
, even if the kids aren’t specifically thinking about ventilation! I don’t think they’ll really care much when the mask requirement eventually goes away; that will be nice but it’s not a big deal as it’s a small fraction of their time and they’re used to it. They are just thrilled to be back with everyone in person and everything happening again. All i can do is pray that these early rounds of testing quickly root out any cases, and they can stay a decent (albeit imperfect) bubble that doesn’t experience any large outbreaks. I think there’s reason to be hopeful that’s what will happen, but of course we won’t know until it’s all over. So, for now, I’m crossing my fingers, but so glad to hear the joy and appreciation in their voices.
I’m genuinely sorry for those of you dealing with more challenging school environments. Obviously this delta surge is going to be very painful, but there are already signs of it abating in the locations that first started feeling it, so hopefully regardless of smart/dumb/foolish/brilliant/whatever policies that are in place at your school, things will be improving at least by October 
. It really is going to be so interesting to see what happens in the schools with kids under age 12 (or with very low vaccination rates)—I no longer have kids in that situation, but I see why it’s harder to be hopeful for normalcy this year. A forum like this is so useful to hear/learn about what’s happening in other parts of the country—it can be easy to think schools are experiencing similar situations throughout the US, but having people chime in here with a range of experiences is definitely educational to me, so thank you to everyone for sharing what you are seeing. Best of luck to everyone 
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My comment was in response to RosePetal’s observation that Amherst was not conducting pre-arrival testing.
I fully recognize the holes in pre-arrival testing, but eliminating it doesn’t seem prudent this year. Viewing this from New England, case counts are as high now as they were at the end of October/middle of November compared to last year when cases remained at 2 or 3/100K from June through September. Having said that, arrival testing does not appear to be revealing the high case counts I feared, so here’s hoping for the best.
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Updates on the Amherst situation from D: student body is up in arms. Students, parents, and even alumni are angry and letting the school know it. D has even heard rumors that some wealthy alumni are threatening to withhold donations. There is a petition circulating via social media with several hundred signatures. Here is the content of the petition (D sent it to me via text):
"President Martin, Provost Epstein, and Dean Agosto,
Tuesday’s e-mail with the updated COVID-19 guidelines was, for many students, disruptive, confusing, and frustrating. We are writing to you to reconsider both the outdoor mask mandate and the restrictions on town access. We furthermore require a nuanced, thorough response around all other guidelines by the Amherst administration via a follow up e-mail, town hall, or other means. As the email stands currently, the guidelines are not based on any given data, have been developed without student input, are significantly stricter than our peer institutions, and are in conflict with CDC guidelines. Below are the 4 major concerns that we ask you to further revise and clarify.
- The impetus for changing the guidelines since the previous e-mail on August 16th is not transparent. We ask for sources to be cited and for further information about phasing out of these guidelines.
While you cite “more recent information about the course of the Delta variant and the experiences on some campuses over the past couple of months,” you do not provide these resources to us. This is not only frustrating as the guidelines appear to be crafted out of thin air, but also confusing as they contradict what we are seeing and hearing about the transmission of COVID-19. Since March 2020, it has become a daily habit for many of us to closely follow news and check updated local, state, and federal guidelines, however there does not appear to have been a significant report in the past 8 days that would warrant such dramatic changes to our return to school plan. If there is further data that has flown under our radar, it should be shared with us so that we can obtain the most accurate information and understand the reasoning behind your recommendations. If the reasoning behind the new guidelines relates to the “experiences on some campuses over the past couple of months,” we should be privy to that information as well.
Furthermore, if these guidelines are just a phase while students arrive on campus, the plan for moving out of this phase should be communicated clearly as well. Is it contingent upon the number of students who test positive during move-in? What might changes to this phase look like? While September 13th was given as a reassessment date for some protocols, the outdoor mask mandate was not one of them. Why is this?
- It appears that student input has been overlooked during the decision making process. We ask that you consult the COVID-19 Student Task Force for input, and create other less formal avenues for student feedback.
Since there has been no mention of the COVID-19 Student Task Force, it is not clear that there have been any students involved in creating these guidelines. As we are the ones who are ultimately living with the rules, it is disrespectful to ignore our perspectives in developing them. If there have been students involved in this process, then it would be appreciated if you mention that our voice as a student body is being represented. Furthermore, you do not give any opportunity for student feedback in the form of a live discussion, town hall meeting, or forum.
We were all excited to return to Amherst, to in-person learning, and to our beloved community. Remote school could be isolating, stressful, and lack the peer-to-peer interactions that make the college experience worthwhile. While last year students could make a choice to be physically at Amherst or in a different environment, this year we have all committed to the on campus experience. We want to work with the administration to make this semester as productive, enjoyable, and meaningful as possible, but we have not been given that opportunity. In place of conferring with us as responsible young adults that have been managing our exposure and risk of COVID-19 over the past 18 months, we are instead subject to impersonal and cold e-mails that describe seemingly arbitrary guidelines. Given the lack of student input and respect for our feedback and experience, it is very difficult not to adopt the narrative that the administration is uninterested in providing us with the in-person experience that we value so highly.
- These guidelines are significantly more restricted than our peer institutions. We ask for an explanation of what makes the environment at Amherst so different from similarly sized and located colleges. We ask that you reconsider our ability to attend restaurants and visit other nearby towns such as Hadley and Northampton.
At Williams, for example, vaccinated students are exempt from testing unless symptomatic for COVID-19, and do not need to wear masks outdoors or in their residence halls. Masks are only required for unvaccinated individuals or indoors during class and other academic activities. Williams students are allowed to freely engage with the community, local vendors, and restaurants. Berkshire County has similar case levels to Hampshire County. If we abide by Amherst town and Massachusetts state guidelines, traveling beyond the town of Amherst should not be greatly increasing the risk of exposure for our campus community. Smith College does not require masks outdoors, is testing vaccinated students only once a week, has a variety of dining options available including self-serve, and is not imposing any travel restrictions on their students. It is confounding that our guidelines are so different from these peer institutions.
- There is no evidence that suggests that masks should be worn outdoors by vaccinated individuals as transmission outdoors is less than 1%. We ask that you revoke the outdoor mask mandate.
The most recent COVID-19 guidelines on the CDC website (dated August 19th, 2021), states that “current data suggest the risk of transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in outdoor settings is minimal. In general, fully vaccinated people do not need to wear a mask outdoors. Fully vaccinated people might choose to wear a mask in crowded outdoor settings if they or someone in their household is immunocompromised.” This suggests that wearing a mask outside for vaccinated individuals is completely optional depending on their own comfort level and the size of the event. This New York Times article, entitled “A Misleading CDC Number,” puts the rate of outdoor transmission at less than 0.1%, stating that “there is not a single documented COVID-19 infection anywhere in the world from causal outdoor interaction, such as walking past someone on the street or eating at a nearby table.” As such, an outdoor mask mandate is essentially going against the science that we have observed about the transmission of COVID-19 so far.
Additionally, in terms of indoor masking, the CDC discourages double masking with two disposable masks. This is in direct conflict to the bullet point in your email that suggested double disposable, pleated face masks. The CDC website specifically tells individuals NOT to do this very thing, saying that “disposable masks are not designed to fit tightly and wearing more than one will not improve fit.”
In conclusion, this updated set of guidelines appears to be out of line with the current CDC, state, local, and peer institution standards for COVID-19 response and we demand revision and clarification. We are all students who were, at one point, excited and proud to attend Amherst College. However, with these updated regulations, lack of rationale, and shortage of student input, it is currently challenging to believe that Amherst remains committed to our full student experience, and difficult to regain the typical enthusiasm that comes with returning to campus each fall."
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How would this work at colleges with a 90%+ immunization rate? Would remote campuses fare better than those with lots of community interaction?
Herd immunity is unlikely unless a Delta-targeted vaccine has substantially higher effectiveness and is taken up by nearly all members of the herd (at least those who have not recovered from the Delta variant, if prior infection also has higher effectiveness against reinfection).
If COVID-19 is suppressed in an isolated community (college or otherwise), it depends on whether visitors are likely to bring it back in.
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Good news from Amherst! D just got an email from the Amherst admin; they are rolling back on some of the problematic additional restrictions. Masks will not be required outdoors during the opening period (except in “high density gatherings over a sustained time period”). Also, although still not fully clear, it sounds like a lot of the restriction on travel into town has been lifted; students are now welcome to pick up take-out food, they just cannot dine in at restaurants, bars, or indoor cafes. They also stated that all of the other restrictions put in place over the past week are meant only as short-term measures for the beginning of the semester (first two weeks).
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Cornell has turned up numerous positives linked to off-campus gatherings and is moving to its “yellow” alert level, which among other things requires outdoor masks
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That page says that “As cases increase, quarantine capacity is at 88 percent, with students isolating in Balch Hall, a change from the spring, when students quarantined in The Statler Hotel. According to Kotlikoff, Lombardi and Opperman, the vast majority of identified cases are asymptomatic or experiencing only mild symptoms — following the national trend that the vaccine is proving effective in preventing severe illness.”
What happens when they run out of quarantine housing?
The Statler only has approximately 150 rooms. Balch capacity is 230, but with a mix of singles & doubles, so total quarantine housing is probably similar to last year.
I do not know what the plan is if quarantine needs exceed capacity. My guess is that if cases increase so much that they exceed the capacity of Balch, that events on campus will be curtailed to the extent that Statler rooms would be available again.
The university did an excellent job managing COVID on campus last year so I trust they will do the same this year.
So Notre Dame is requiring Covid vaccination before arriving on campus, but I just read there’s a campus-wide email from AD Jack Swarbrick that announced masks, negative COVID tests and/or vaccinations will NOT be required at Notre Dame football games this season.
I guess they plan on re-evaluating game-day policy on a weekly basis.
Edited to add: Regardless of vaccination status, all guests are required to wear a mask indoors while in campus buildings, in indoor areas of Notre Dame Stadium.
Liberty University in campus-wide quarantine:
With a little under a week to go before the reporting deadline, 84% of students at UChicago have uploaded vax proof. 2% have received approved exemptions and will be doing mandatory weekly testing. 83% of employees have uploaded vax proof (deadline now passed); the remainder will need to undergo mandatory weekly testing.
Masking indoors generally required; however, if you are a vaccinated teacher or presenter you may remove your mask in order to be heard or understood.
Students who are vaxed can take off their masks while eating, no social distancing required. Unvaxed may only remove their masks to eat if they maintain 6’ of social distance. Only those on the meal plan may eat in the dining halls and only students who are in other residence halls can visit a residence hall. Residence halls will be at or near full capacity.
There is isolation housing for those living on campus who test positive, but no information on capacity. Students living off campus who are told to isolate need to do so in their own residence, similar to last year. Vaxed students do not need to quarantine after exposure to a known or suspected case of COVID-19 if they do not have symptoms, but they must be tested 3-5 days after exposure, and wear a mask indoors for 14 days or until they receive a negative test result. ETA: just noticed that everyone’s wearing a mask anyway at this point so this rule about mask wearing must apply even if the indoor mask requirement is dropped.
Everyone in on-campus housing must be tested upon arrival, but if you are vaxed then you are excused from additional mandatory testing. If unvaxed, you must submit to weekly mandatory testing. Those in housing will need to wear masks in common areas. Students will be roomed taking into consideration vaccination status (not sure what that means). Unvaxed apparently have a separate arrival instructions which have been communicated separately. Not sure yet what they are.
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Is Cornell testing vaccinated students on a regular basis? We’re all of these positives just from initial testing upon arrival?