I dont understand with your extreme disapproval of how your U is handling the Covid situation and how valuable you are in the teaching community why you dont pursue teaching remotely at a U that would be more accomodating? Is it because your D attends the same U and until she graduates you need the tuition break? I was alway taught that if you dont like something , instead of complaining, find a solution.
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I am teaching remotely, and I have found a solution, in the form of other (remote) work. In general, though, âif you donât like it, leaveâ is a solution for the privileged. My U has some of those, but thousands of our students are barely hanging on. They donât have other choices for a university education, and theyâre not in a position to make things hot for cowardly, highly-paid administrators who really arenât concerned with who gets sick and what that might mean for them and their families. A near-certainty of catching covid just because you canât afford to go somewhere else â whether itâs because of your academic/childhood background or because youâre an adult student trying to make things go while getting a degree you need â is one of those things that falls fairly easily into the basket marked Wrong.
We didnât always used to be like this as a university, and I know we can do better. But it does take people saying so, and criticizing, and showing other ways of doing things, and refusing to go along with terrible ideas out of convenience or cupidity or fear.
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Latest statistics from UMD. The graph shows covid cases with dates before 1/24 being the lightly populated winter session. 1/24 was the start of the in-person spring semester. They have a 98.3% vaccination rate among the entire university population (students, professors, other staff). The Omicron wave is past itâs peak here in Maryland. It should get even better as the semester goes on.
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My d tested positive yesterday after a close contact exposure. It was just a matter of time with the high case numbers. She feels absolutely fine (fully vaxxed and boostered). Couple of weird things though. University wouldnât accept her home test results and had her go into the official university testing site this morning. Professors wonât share their recorded lectures until students have that university sanctioned test. I guess they are trying to ensure attendance? Case manager will be calling her later today but university policy is 5 days of isolation fir vaxxed students unless they are still experiencing symptoms.
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I hope your D continues to feel ok. Both of our kids had very mild symptoms when they had Covid last month. I guess it makes sense to make kids prove they tested positive. Interesting that Purdue required it. Thereâs no surveillance testing, right?
Bowdoin just took S19âs word for it when he emailed the head of the Covid task force on the day he tested positive in late Dec. S19 sort of knows that person and so I think he just trusted him. Colgate required a photo of the home test. Clearly that could have been faked but not all that easily since youâd have to have someone to get a positive test in order to get a photo. lol.
I think both schools just think there was no real risk in accepting their studentsâ word for it or home test because these cases were during break and didnât affect their time on campus. Bowdoin let S19 out of surveillance testing for 30 days from his positive test. His first PCR test this week was negative. If it had been positive, they likely would have done a rapid to make sure heâs not contagious and went with that result since he could have been positive on the PCR because of his recent case. Colgate let D21 out of testing on arrival. They test on arrival and then again three days later so sheâs been waved from that protocol. After this week, they donât surveillance test.
They only do surveillance testing on unvaccinated students.
And yes, I donât see why they wouldnât accept a photo of the home test result. Seems like a waste of resources to me.
Sheâs been in person for the last three weeks.
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Mine developed mild cold symptoms last weekend and then received notice from her sorority that she had come in contact with someone who tested positive. No surprise at all given the college environment. Instead of quarantining in her tiny dorm room, she opted to drive home for the week (we are less than 3 hours away). Her symptoms remain mild and similar to a winter cold - no fever at all (a rapid test at CVS confirmed the positive). My husband and I are out of town but her sister, who had Omicron a few weeks ago, is local and has been checking on her.
Her professors have been great and although there is no longer a remote learning option, she is getting the lecture notes and completing assignments from home. Luckily it is early enough in the semester that she doesnât feel she is missing anything super important. She is relieved to get it over with early in the semester.
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Pitt has a relatively high number of cases, but it seems they have stopped caring about it. Yesterdays 7 day case numbers for the Pittsburgh campus:
Students: 327
Seven-day average of 46.7 positive student tests per day
Faculty and staff: 111
Seven-day average of 15.9 positive faculty and staff tests per day
This is down from the prior week. The university is not doing surveillance testing except for those moving back into the dorms. I believe there was still some of that captured in last weekâs numbers. Classes went in-person yesterday.
As I posted above my son was positive a couple weeks ago on a home test. He had mild cold symptoms for two days and then felt perfectly fine. As he tested himself at home. he has not been included in anyoneâs numbers as a positive test. He has decided that he is now invincible and doesnât have to take any precautions beyond the minimum required since he is vaxed and boosted and has had the actual disease.
D20 tested positive upon arrival at school and just got finished with isolation there. Absolutely no symptoms at any point; we were all left feeling very grateful to vaccination and boosters.
Professors super accommodating during her isolation, and she had lots of time to get work done. Never heard her so happy to âbreathe fresh airâ as she was this morning when she called letting me know she was out.
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26 posts were split to a new thread: Leaving Bryn Mawr for Hillsdale
Got a recent update from Hope College. The first 3 weeks of the semester saw a dramatic surge in cases that has thankfully started to taper off. Over those first 3 weeks, 26% of the student body was in quarantine or isolation. But according to the latest Monday update, case levels have dropped significantly as have wastewater signals. Of course the administration urges continued vigilance because the case positivity rate in the surrounding community is still high. Classes are in person but with the use of Google meets so students in isolation or quarantine can participate, and with flexibility for a professor to decide to temporarily pivot to remote if he or she determines itâs warranted and has departmental approval. Thereâs an indoor mask mandate and the college has provided N95âs.
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Well, what some on this thread feared would happen is happening, at least at UC-San Diego. The Union Tribune reports that 29 percent of undergraduate classes will remain fully online for the remainder of the quarter. Other courses are being offered in a hybrid format, resulting in many students opting to attend class remotely; one student said his in-person poly sci class yesterday would normally have 80 students but only 20 showed up.
I believe this is happening at other UC campuses as well. Interestingly, itâs being driven at least in part by the students, some of whom might fear getting sick but Iâm guessing for a lot itâs based on a fear falling behind in the fast paced quarter system if they test positive and have to miss class.
The Union Tribune article describes the 43,000-student UCSD campus as looking like a âghost town.â
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This is interesting. I wonder if the students will still get credit for the courses from that semester?
It looks like the students would still get credit for those classes; the settlement gives each of the approximately 64k students about $63 a piece in reimbursement for tuition/fees (on campus students had already gotten room/board reimbursed).
This is very interestingâthanks for posting.
It seems that some students have got used to being less scrutinized, not having the hassle of getting out of bed/commuting to campus, and only having open book/take home testing. Thereâs a significant overlap with those who wanted exams to be canceled for âmental healthâ reasons, pass/fail grading etc over the last couple of years.
Curiously, I donât see them mounting demonstrations to push for the cancellation of basketball games and other social eventsâŠ
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I agree but itâs a sad state of affairs when kids would rather take class from bed than go in person with their peers.
I know a lot of kids who donât want any part of remote college. Our S just texted me and said his religion class is eight kids and he said he loves seminars where they sit in a circle and have a conversation and this is from a physics/math major. After religion class, they sometimes spill into the cafeteria to keep talking. I know itâs not for everyone, but lots of kids want that experience.
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I think my sons would admit their feelings about this differ depending on if itâs an early morning or later in the day class. Fall 2020 one told me how much he enjoyed a particular class because he could just wake up five minutes before class time, roll over and grab his laptop. But once he was up and out he liked in person classes.
Well someday he will have to get up and go to work and it might be in person!
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