Should colleges not be prudent if businesses in their surroundings community are not ?
“ Why should colleges have grab and go meals if the local restaurants and sports venues are open for in person eating”
It seems that colleges are being blamed for being the “bad cop” when maybe it’s the more lax venues that should be more strict. I think that I read somewhere that supermarkets are one of the biggest super spreader culprits.
We need to act cohesively as a community if we are going to get out of this pandemic.
Auburn has had and has reinstituted the indoor mask requirement. Some students don’t care for it and grumble on social media, but no one makes a huge issue over it. Wear your mask, go to class and do your work.
Regarding “grab and go” meals, some colleges may do that as a way to deal with staffing shortages caused by workers out sick and by the general staffing shortages we’ve all been seeing for months. My kid’s college sent out an email about 2 months ago apologizing for reduced choices and hours of operation, and the outright closure of one of the dining halls, due to staffing shortages. Of course when it’s winter in Michigan, you need a warm place to eat the meal!
Northeastern university is requiring boosters but NOT going online or requiring separate quarantine. They have moved into the indemic phase, focusing on severe illness and hospitalizations.
Why is Northeastern moving forward with plans for in-person teaching, learning, and research for the spring 2022 term?
Our mission of educating students and conducting path-breaking research is important. This is why we’ve required vaccination, including booster shots, for all members of our community. Vaccination continues to be one of the best—if not the best—tools for managing the effects of Covid. While vaccines do not prevent all infections, the widely available Covid-19 vaccines have proven to be very effective at preventing severe illness and hospitalization.
Aren’t you concerned about the massive spike in cases, particularly the highly contagious Omicron variant?
It is important to monitor all Covid trends, but in a fully vaccinated and boosted community, positive cases are no longer the best metric to influence our strategy. It’s time to shift our focus to the prevention of severe illness and hospitalization. Before vaccines became available, it was anathema to compare Covid to the flu or the common cold. Now, in a population that’s fully vaccinated and boosted, the data shows that many people who get infected will be asymptomatic or exhibit only mild symptoms.
Why not just move to remote operations during the worst of the Omicron wave and resume in-person learning and research in February?
It is now clear that Covid-19, in one form or another, will be with us for the foreseeable future. There will be new variants and future surges. At some point—and we believe the time is now—we need to focus our efforts on managing Covid effectively, not letting Covid manage us. And again, the mission of the university is important. We are educating the next generation of leaders and change-makers. Our researchers are developing solutions to some of the world’s most intractable problems, including Covid. We cannot suspend these operations every time there’s a rise in cases.
Given the likelihood of a steep increase in positive tests, will there be a change in the university’s approach to wellness housing for students?
Part of managing Covid in its endemic stage includes moving beyond the approach of isolating students who test positive. Our vaccination and booster requirements will allow students to isolate in their rooms—either on or off campus. Many students will be asymptomatic or exhibit only mild systems. The vaccines allow us to approach the upcoming surge like a cold or flu season
LA county to require students (of both public and private schools) to wear masks in outdoor crowded spaces and staff to wear medical grade masks when students return to school tomorrow:
how are the colleges handling this if someone just got Covid, but was not boosted yet. Is there leeway of some sort? To me, its crazy if someone is vaccinated, just got Covid, and then has to get a booster right away with natural antibodies.
I am pro vax and pro booster , but yet I got the covid cold. IF I am told I needed a 4th booster at this point, I would likely pass for a year.
We are waiting to see what RIT is going to do, other than what they already said (boosters recommended, testing before arrival). RIT does not offer vaccines on campus and never has, without bringing in a 3rd party (such as Wegmans for a flu clinic).
Usually the requirement is to get a booster within 6 months or when eligible. Most doctors will write a note that if you have had covid within the last 90 days you are not yet eligible for the booster.
If they’re forcing students inside like scared puppies every time there’s a sore throat outbreak, do you really trust this school to teach your kid to be a functioning adult? Do you want to pay $25,000 a semester to take online classes when a community college can do that for almost nothing? At some point, we have to stop accepting this madness.
Haven’t heard know of a college that was doing that.
The ones I’m familiar with, put restrictions in place due to an epidemic that currently causes 1,300 deaths each single day - which for those 10,000 Americans a week is somewhat more life-changing than a sore throat?
ND is starting class on time 1/10 and in person. Mask will be required indoors until 90% of campus is fully vaccinated (two weeks after booster) the deadline for booster verification is 1/21. No food or drinks allowed in school sponsored gatherings until the mask mandate is lifted, hopefully on 2/4.
So far we have been really happy with the schools covid response and son is having a very normal college experience.
I think the point is that close to zero of those 1300 deaths involved college students, and for perhaps 99% of college kids it does amount to a cold/flu episode. The fact that covid is devastating to those over 85 may not be enough to justify restrictions on those under 21.
Omicron infections are on a dramatic rise and severity and deaths tend to lag a couple weeks. So let’s wait and see what happens about mid-January post-holidays. And those college kids do go home to see mom, dad and grandparents.
My D21 had class this AM at Cal Poly SLO. 90%+ of everyone on campus has been vaccinated. Faculty and staff are just above 90%, but are the least vaccinated group.
All kids are being tested and will need boosters. Masks are required in classrooms and other public indoor venues.
My D21 got tested this AM. Long line today as expected.
