Williams shared new information today about return to campus for Winter Study (which starts on Monday): https://www.williams.edu/coronavirus/campus-emails/return-to-campus-update/
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So they have to take their lunch to-go? The horror. How will they survive?
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Itâs stupid, and useless. They donât have to! They are taking it to go and having it with all their friends anyway. They are walking through the dorm hallways and into bathrooms. Omicron is airborne! Itâs ridiculous.
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I guess if the workers serving the lunch get sick and die, the school can just hire someone else. Anything is better than take-out.
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Of course I do. The hospitals are not filled with triple vaxxed college students that now have to take their triple vaxed selves and do online school and eat out of a box? ForEVER. Covid is here forever.
Hospitals are filled with mostly unvaxxed people. College students should not be made to pay for them. They are not even going to the hospital- restricting them will do NOTHING about hospitalizations and ICU. (Which are down with omicron vs delta).
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Vanderbilt has pushed back the start of second semester one week and is implementing restrictions for at least the first week. They didnât utilize any remote learning last semester otherwise I think theyâd have asked students to stay home that extra week.
Other highlights include:
Beginning Jan. 18, a booster will be required to be exempted from regular asymptomatic testing and possible quarantine requirements for close contacts per new CDC protocols. Submit your vaccine or booster record by Monday, Jan. 10.
We will require return to campus testing for all members of the campus community who are returning to campus in January.
- Take a COVID-19 test approximately 72 hours before arriving on campus (either a PCR or rapid antigen test); and upload the results to [this form].
All students returning to campus for the spring semester will be required to participate in a Commodores Care period immediately upon their return to support the health of our community and reduce the risk of transmission of COVID-19. The âquietâ Commodores Care period will continue through at least Monday, Jan. 24.
Students with negative test results and without symptoms may:
- Leave their residences to attend in-person classes;
- Pick up to-go food or supplies;
- Seek medical attention;
- Perform essential work or research for the university; and
- Engage in outdoor activities that do not involve close contact, such as walking, hiking or running.
Students with positive test results or with symptoms must follow the universityâs quarantine and isolation requirements.
During this period, all other university programming and student organization activities will be virtual. Student interactions should also be virtual during this time frame. Students must not participate in gatherings of any size or engage in in-person social interactions with anyone other than their roommates/housemates. This includes attendance at athletic events. Student organization and other sponsored travel will not be permitted in January, and all planned trips during the month will be canceled; the only exception is pre-approved undergraduate study abroad.
To help reduce any potential spread, Campus Dining will operate in a âto-goâ format during this period. Students are encouraged to eat either outside if weather permits or in their residential space. Libraries and residential common areas will not be open during this time frame; libraries will offer services and support virtually.
Additional in-person activities may resume on Monday, Jan. 24, unless students are otherwise notified by the university.
âTo help reduce any potential spread, Campus Dining will operate in a âto-goâ format during this period. Students are encouraged to eat either outside if weather permits or in their residential space. Libraries and residential common areas will not be open during this time frame; libraries will offer services and support virtuallyâ
Itâs like they have learned nothing in 2 years. As if dining halls and libraries are places where there is serious spread.
Iâm curious to know what colleges will do with all these positive tests. In the northeast, it will probably have burned out by late January (tons of my kids friends - vaxxed - have covid now) but in other areas they will quickly see what asymptomatic testing gives you⊠Positive tests. Then they will have to be like the NFL and change course.
"Students must not participate in gatherings of any size or engage in in-person social interactions with anyone other than their roommates/housemates. This includes attendance at athletic events. "
Mmmhhh - this will certainly be followed.
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I think dining halls have the most opportunity for spread because no masks when eating and libraries have population density and itâs more difficult to ensure mask compliance than in classrooms. I hope omicron will be on the down swing by this point in January and I wonder if the university wants a buffer week to see where they are case-wise once all the students return.
Also, maybe these measures are intended to make the staff feel more comfortable because they tend to skew older and are at higher risk than the students. Vanderbilt has struggled with staffing issues since the start of school.
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Sure. But takeout? Sheâs not paying big bucks for takeout.
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Who isnât? Iâll be happy if itâs only for one week.
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But in real college life, no one wears masks around other students. It doesnât happen. The dining hall thing is window dressing. There will be tons and tons of socializing at Vanderbilt in January, I assure you. There is no social distancing in the halls of dorms, between classes and at parties.
This is all a CYA exercise so they can say they are âdoing somethingâ. Maybe they bring back less staff to work those dining halls and save some bucks.
The interesting thing will be the hundreds of âcasesâ that will be " found" during the asymptomatic testing and what they will do about it.
The most careful people I know STILL tested positive for omicron in the last few weeks (triple vaxxed). Itâs unstoppable. For people who donât live in the northeast, and itâs still omicron " quiet" where you live, just wait. This variant changes everything - old playbook needs to be tossed.
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Itâs not just grab & go food. Itâs online classes, online social activities & basically being stuck in a dorm room 24/7. With no end date promised, given, or even suggested. The testing doesnât bother me one bit. The social & academic isolation does though.
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