Well it’s going to be interesting to see if there is an impact of covid after the football games this weekend and the responses of the schools.
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I’d like to see things remain less restrictive among students on our rural campus but very restrictive as to outsiders - bubble protection. I don’t personally prioritize athletic events, homecoming etc. though I know others do.
Unfortunately we are just in this gray area since some people and kids cannot be vaccinated and there is enough highly contagious virus everywhere so we can’t have it all at the moment possibly even on vaccine mandate campuses. A smart and flexible approach, quick pivoting, money, testing, compliance are really valuable right now. Students want to socialize and go to class in person the most so that needs to be protected imho. They don’t really want to wear masks all the time either 
so that’s tough.
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My birthday this year fell when no indoor gatherings outside of my bubble was allowed but outdoors parties where. I booked a place with a great beer garden that had giant umbrellas and infrared heaters to aid the cold rainy spring evening. It was a blast, we all dressed up warm and enjoyed a nice meal and drinks.
Socialising under some restrictions Is very possible.
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Yes, outdoors is much less risky in terms of virus spread than indoors.
However, that is also why virus spread was exploded during the winter holiday / family gathering season when most people preferred to stay in heated indoor environments.
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Not realistic for kids in the NE to socialize outside after October or so. Plus, not thinking that drinking outside would go over very well. Parties are typically inside at most schools. Like I said earlier, if students want to be more careful then they can choose to not socialize in large groups inside. With all vaccinated, though, I still think students should be able to have a fairly normal social life if they are masking indoors when near faculty.
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It’s also partly why the virus spreads more efficiently in the South in the summer months when people spend more time indoors in air-conditioned rooms. Without additional mitigation, the current wave will likely propagate northward as temperature cools down.
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Exactly. Just like last year.
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The likely result of student indoor socializing / drinking / partying at a residential college is probably something like Provincetown – widespread infections, but mostly minor annoyances among vaccinated young and healthy people.
However, the hazard to older instructors may be greater inside a classroom where contagious students with no or minimal symptoms are slowly filling the air with virus (masks on the students may reduce the virus rate, but there will still be significant virus over an hour class indoors). Vaccination greatly reduces the risk of needing hospitalization or dying, but older people are more likely to experience extended unpleasant effects (not requiring hospitalization) from COVID-19, even after vaccination. So there may be some disruption in some classes where an unlucky instructor gets an unpleasant case of COVID-19 and is unable to teach (even by videoconference) for a week or two.
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They don’t ever gather around campfires in winter ? Or go to firework displays, play in snow, cozy up with a mug of hot chocolate or mulled wine?
Outdoor winter socialising isn’t new, depending on your location there are lots of fun customs that revolve around it.
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In NYS remote education has to be approved at the state level. NYSED extended approval for distance education through June 2022. This is what it looks like in terms of number of cases (this is from SUNY Oneonta, but I’ve seen the 100 individuals/5% on both public and private NYS college sites):
The college will follow the guidance of the NY State Department of Health in terms of returning to remote operations. Specifically, when more than either 100 individuals or 5% of the total on-campus population tests positive within a 14-day period, the campus will immediately (1) transition all in-person learning to remote format(s) and (2) limit on-campus activities for a period of 14 days. Also, during this time, campus will suspend all in-person events, extracurricular programs, and other non-essential student activities, and dining will remain take-out models with delivery to quarantine and isolation halls.
At the end of the 14-day pause in activities, the college will follow the Department of Health’s guidance regarding virus containment sufficient to resume the previous levels of in-person activities. The NY State Department of Health defines “Total on-campus population” as all students, faculty, and staff who are on the campus location, including those students living on campus and those attending class on campus, as well as all staff and faculty working on campus. A pivot to fully remote operations may occur if the virus cannot be contained.
Sure. They do. But the typical (and fun!) dorm party or frat party is frowned upon. That’s a big way that kids get to know each other.
And someone needs to organize outdoor activities and that’s a lot to put on the college to have something fun to do outside a few days every week.
Not quite clear how one deduce that, given that the US administers 3 vs. UK’s 11 tests per mille population (current daily testing rate), and the UK has a 4% positivity rate vs the US’ 20%. How Does Testing in the U.S. Compare to Other Countries? - Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center
Compare the two countries’ average weekly infections over the course of the pandemic, normalized by population. Here is a tool that uses the Johns Hopkins data:
It’s always possible that the number of infections is under-reported in both countries, and that the US is more “under-reported” than the UK. But that’s speculating. If one goes by the data (from a reliable source) they are similar.
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About that, it looks like lots of the additional restrictions Amherst put in place are just for show. According to my D, while students will obey the mask mandate while in academic spaces or the dining hall or in town, hardly anybody is wearing masks in the dorms. Also, lots of parties happening on-campus. And these aren’t underground parties, like last year, these parties are happening in clear view, available for all to see. Lots of these parties are also being organized and held by the sports teams and clubs. The rules are not being enforced at all; in fact, some of D’s friends went to a party this weekend in which ACPD showed up, didn’t even break up the party, and basically told them to ‘Be safe and have fun!’ None of the parties are being broken up, and no messages to the student body from the Amherst administration indicating concern; it appears on-campus that all is relatively well, as they are testing everyone twice per week and no one has tested positive since arrival.
Next Monday was the day given for all the additional restrictions (including masks hypothetically “required” in dorms) to be revoked if all was well, as it was said all the additional restrictions were only meant to be through September 13, so at that point, students would pretty much not even be breaking the rules by partying. I’m not upset about this; in fact, I am glad students are being allowed to live a little, since they have all been vaccinated.
It looks like the whole additional restrictions thing was just a big PR stunt they had no intention of ever enforcing.
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Can’t wait to see their cases. Bowdoin had strict rules and everyone but five students vaccinated and they have a spike of 30 cases now. Almost all from one party.
Well - that’s the problem right there - when you normalize by population you are ignoring the fact that infections being counted are determined by the tests performed. That is direct relation: In the U.S. 20% tested are infected, in the U.K. 4%.
You can divide the number of infections by many other figures, the question is how meaningful those results are in comparison.
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I’m not sure that’s entirely true @RosePetal35. I’ve heard of some reprimands and some gatherings being broken up. I don’t think it’s a PR stunt at all.
A gathering isn’t a problem if no one at the gathering is infectious. Even though both Amherst and Bowdoin test students upon their arrival, they seem to deploy different types of COVID tests. Bowdoin uses rapid antigen tests while Amherst seems to be using more accurate PCR tests. Antigen tests are prone to generate false negatives, so some Bowdoin students who were cleared by the initial arrival tests might actually carry the virus. It could also be just luck, of course.
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Bowdoin did a PCR test for all close contacts and everyone in the dorm in question and is doing PCR testing for everyone now twice a week. There was one new case from Saturday and one from Sunday so it seems they’ve caught almost everyone from that large bunch who tested positive early last week. They are hoping that, after this week of Tuesday and Thursday PCR testing, they will have a grip on the situation.
Bowdoin did antigen tests for arriving students. Is that correct? If so, a few infected cases may have been missed initially and those students could be the source of infections at a later gathering.
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