And unfortunately there’s more…UNC at least two suicides and one attempted just this past semester, Santa Clara two suicides and another student death this past semester, WPI four student deaths since July, at least two were suicides, Bowdoin two students deaths in two weeks, one of which was suicide.
While it’s difficult to know how these numbers compare to other periods, we know that students are sounding the alarm at many campuses, saying they are NOT OK and at many campuses they are calling for more mental health resources, among other things. Mental health disorders are insidious, can be difficult to admit, and difficult to even find a medical professional and treatment right now.
Thanks for the report on Dartmouth specifically - and I have no doubt there are similar worries at colleges across the country, where some students have trouble coping with the ways our daily lives have changed during a pandemic.
However, I thought someone had stated that there were stats that covered “the Ivy Leagues”.
I see a lot of broad generalizations on CC (such as “all NE LACs being sad places” - which ends up being Bowdoin), so I’m trying to sort through which ones are factual statements I need to “retain”, or if they’re just assertions reflecting someone’s (understandably amplified) individual frustrations with the state of the world.
This is a problem…keep asking/requiring people to vaccinate/boost and adopt other restrictions, and then it turns out there is no carrot for people who are doing the right thing. I’m not saying people should only do the right thing if they get a personal benefit (and of course they do by vaccinating/boosting) but it will naturally become a more difficult sell on college campuses that are relatively more strict, because, well, many students have a choice in the college they attend.
Someone here might know but I’m pretty sure Princeton had at least one suicide this fall and we know two kids who left there and came home due to mental health issues. Seems the stricter the Covid rules, the more the anxiety… I think it’s fair to draw some correlation.
I just had the Omi-cold. It was a very mild cold. And with these campuses asking the students to be vaxxed and now boosted, when does this become a non issue?
My freshman D years before Covid returned to campus for spring semester and her roommate had the Flu and did not go to isolation. My D caught it and was very sick for weeks (turned in pneumonia. ) . This fall while things were at a “lull” many kids got Strep, the stomach flu, and other ailments being back in congregate settings. Yet as long as that “test” was negative, they remained, not forced to mask in dorms, and this muck was passed around.
What more can we ask of these college students. Mask up, not only vaccinate but now you must booster. You also are required to test in many colleges. Then we lock you down. Yet for these students this seems to be a cold now. The fall muck being worse. Where is the reward for following the rules. ? Oh, you get to start with remote classes, takeout food, and masks all the time except in your room. and maybe if the whole country is good, we might lighten up sometime this semester.
I heard that there is a push for Masks to never go away. even once this becomes endemic. There was lots of cause for concern up until now, but I think the Tide has to turn.
Not at all disagreeing with your worries about suicide rates at colleges, and what correlations one might draw.
I believe my daughter had mentioned two suicides at Columbia University (before Covid started), and in the 5 years before Covid, I know of at least one year with 4 cases.
Every single case is one too many, but I’d venture a guess that a single case in a semester is probably not out of line with long term averages at Princeton.
As far as mental health, colleges are somewhat reflective of the overall population - and starting college life will probably add stress and anxiety to the most robust of person. So it would be more surprising, if there were no cases at colleges.
This is not accurate. There was a suicide last spring. The student was studying remotely. It had nothing to do with restrictions this fall.
I was on the Princeton campus this fall for the conference XC meet. I had a blast and the atmosphere was pretty close to normal. Just masks inside buildings, which was no big deal to anyone that I could tell.
Re: your comment about Dartmouth, I talked with several members of their team who were enjoying the semester.
What you’re describing about NE schools doesn’t match what I saw and what I hear from students who attend those schools.
Yes, Princeton had a suicide in the spring when the campus was tightly locked down-I will have to find the NYTimes article on covid deaths and suicides in the Ivy League. The problem with overselling the threat of covid to college students is that they know better. Giant state schools like Texas A&M had over 75k underdergrads, minimal mitigation, and did not have the scores of student covid deaths one might anticipate given the fear factor some have espoused.
I don’t know of any college campus that had a huge wave of student covid deaths-surely we would have heard of such an event, given that mitigation measures were uneven at best at many southern schools. I support asking the young to sacrifice for the health of the elderly, but not at the cost of their own mental health. Masking is fine, but remote learning is downright harmful. Moreover, some of those elderly we are asked to sacrifice for chose to be unboosted, and are traveling and dining out-why should the young worry about them if they are not worried about themselves?
I agree Covid needs to become a non-issue as soon as possible: however it cannot as long as isolation is required by CDC. The 5 days is easier than 10 was, and was the right decision based on the science, and the schools that are having isolation just happen in the dorm rooms (If roommate not high risk) makes a lot of sense and is not at all risky in this population.
Are any colleges locking down again ? I know the positives have to , per CDC, mask days 6-10 of Covid, so yes for those days for positives it will be no fun(but not the colleges’ fault), but are any campuses locking down everyone? I realize some are doing temporary online classes(I think this is overkill on a 98-99% vaxxed campus ), but kids are going back to campus with gyms and socializing open, sports venues open, and unless they are positive things do not seem to be heading to be worse than it was in fall. Many many campuses (even the conservative ones with regular testing of asymptomatic vaxed kids) had tons of socializing and athletics in the fall and other than masks in class, functioned pretty normally. Obviously some schools with no routine testing had completely normal fall semesters.
Depends on what you mean by locking down. If you read up thread, Vanderbilt is pretty much locked down (except for sports of course) - for the first 2 weeks. But when does this end? 3 shots, getting covid, testing, it all doesn’t end the restrictions.
This is what Vandy students CAN do the first 2 weeks:
The “quiet” 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.
I’m texting rn with my 29-yo friend who’s sick as a dog, him and partner. They’ve been sick for a week. Brain fog, vomiting, coughing, too fatigued to deal with their dog. His fever’s subsided, the partner’s comes and goes. They’re vaxed, not boosted, but early evidence says booster wanes fast vs omicron.
Look, I can only report what the guy says, since I haven’t had it myself. He’s had flu. He’s had mono, he’s had lifethreatening illnesses. I’ve never known him to turn on the OOO autoreply except while in surgery. He says he’s never experienced anything like this before and that he’ll remember the sound of his partner coughing for the rest of his life.