Wow. Calling commencement virtual already stinks. I know it’s different at big schools but, at least right now, Bowdoin saying in person commencement is planned.
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Yeah, disappointing for sure.
Not to get too far down the Inside Medicine track, but CO updated their vaccine roll out plan. There is no longer any preference for congregate living at any level which would have included college students living in dorms. Also in terms of timeline, healthy 18-65 year-olds who are not in essential positions are not expected to get vaccinated until “summer”. No definition of "summer.
For the record, CU’s commencement is May 6.
For those of you with students traveling home for the break, what protocol will you be following? Son is driving home this weekend. Last test will have been 5 days prior to his arrival and no interactions except with roommates. Though of course the roomies may have been with others. My thought was to ask him to mask while in house except his own room/bathroom. Then about 5 days in, he can get a test. We are all working and schooling from home and only go out for essentials with masks.
My son’s roommate had two tests within 3 days (72 hours) of arrival to his state. He got both tests “negative”. He quarantined as much as possible 2 weeks before his departure (after Thanksgiving week) but he and my son went out for grocery shopping, etc during those 2 weeks. His flights were packed. Some passengers kept removing a face mask. He needed to use restrooms. After arrival to his state, he quarantined at home with a face mask, used his own bathroom but ate meals with family members in social distance (spacious home). He took another test 6-7 days after his arrival and got “negative” test. Finally, he removed his face mask.
After hearing this story, my son decided to stay in his apartment so I canceled his flight. He probably won’t be back home until May-June.
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I’m having a similar question/problem about getting together with my D. She will be coming home from the state that has the highest Covid rate in the US, AND she volunteers in a high-risk environment. Her last shift is the 21st and she’s planning on coming home the 22nd. I’m thinking of moving over to my parent’s house (they are away) for a week, so I don’t share a house with my D until after she has had a negative rapid test. Problem is, I think she shouldn’t get a test until 4 days after her highest exposure, so that makes it the 25th. Good luck getting a rapid test Christmas Day.
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She probably should get a rapid test every day until about 7 (maybe more) days from the last high risk situation.
Or stay away from everyone else for at least 7 days if only one test is possible on days 5-7 (with test results available by day 7), based on https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/more/scientific-brief-options-to-reduce-quarantine.html .
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@melvin123 Would it be possible for your D to end volunteer work a few days early and quarantine before coming home? Then mask for a few days before test? I think Day 4 is the earliest you’d want to test. I’m hoping we can nail an appt on Day 5-6.
Not sure how to deal with meals. My S could eat in his room, but I’d rather him just be across the room 10-20’. He’s been so isolated that he’s going to need family interaction.
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A little more info on CU commencement being virtual – the stadium holds a little less than 54,000 while graduation can see up to 20,000. They do not see either the county or the state allowing gatherings of that size by early May, so they made the call now rather than letting students keep hoping it might work out.
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Thank you @ucbalumnus and @MIP750 for your suggestions and helpful information.
I’m sure many here will disapprove but we did not have our son quarantine at all when he came home at Thanksgiving. He arrived home late Monday before Thanksgiving, had a test Tuesday, got results on Friday. We never asked him to stay away from the family or wear a mask in the house. He’s been fine at school for several months without getting sick or even knowing anyone who was positive so it’s seems a bit strange to think he would somehow catch the virus in the few days leading up to travel home. I realize this is different than the situation where the student has a specific high risk situation. I would try to stop that volunteering early.
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No quarantine at our house either. That said, D was tested four times in four weeks, including an exit test when she left campus.
She also came home with her testing kit. Even students not returning to campus were given kits and are required to take them. That works out well for my daughter and her co-op.
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we also did not have our son Q when he got home. he was pretty much by himself for 10 days in his campus apartment. His only risk was flying and the airport he was coming from is small and the plane was barely full.
Our kid came home from MI just before Thanksgiving, on 11/21. We drove from the airport wearing masks and with the windows open to a drive up testing site. Our student then was quarantined at one end of the house and respected our request not to come in the rest of the house, even with a mask. Finally on 11/25 (the day before Thanksgiving) we found a rapid test site ($60) and got a negative test within a few hours. Then we finally felt comfortable ending the home quarantine and dropping the masks inside.
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We also did not have our kids quarantine at Thanksgiving and don’t plan to do so at Xmas. Younger S has had it, so I’m not terribly worried about him. Older S has some risk, but honestly it’s not any greater than the risks I face every day at work and in my daily life. We aren’t seeing any older relatives except my in-laws to briefly to drop off presents outside their apartment. I haven’t seen mine since last Xmas and probably won’t until next summer. We are all fine with that.
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I’m just curious, Corinthian. What happened with the first test (the drive up testing site you went to on 11/21)? Did he get a negative test but you still wanted him to get the $60 rapid test 4 days later to confirm he was still negative, or did you not get results back in a timely fashion, thus requiring the $60 rapid test? (It’s just interesting to learn how different people are managing this. Such a tricky situation.)
My daughter, her 5 roommates, boyfriend and friends all had Covid at school so she didn’t quarantine.
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Yes, send a letter to the professor but also contact the gc and or head of the department… At my son’s school the head of the department wants to know this stuff. They are not realizing this is actually going on. Like Nike… “Just do it” let them know about the group chat and like it’s not just your son… Many are going through things like this
Our son will step out of his ambulance next Wenesday, get Covid tested for the first time since September, then head back to his apartment to pack. He’ll make the 10 hour drive home Thursday. We won’t segregate him in the house, but he will stay inside until we get his test results.
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The first test took 4 days to come back, but we always intended to test a 2nd time anyway since there is a lag time between infection and testing positive. We would’ve preferred to do the 2nd test after 5 days but that would’ve fallen on Thanksgiving, so we did it after 4. Also by then we realized that the “free” tests were all backed up so we found a place that would do it, without a referral for $60 and guarantee results the same day. They had an in house certified lab, whereas the drive-up place was sending their tests to LabCorp or some big lab that was extremely backed up and slow in turning tests around.
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Would the other family members who come into contact with him stay home as well? If they get infected and leave the house, wouldn’t they become new sources of infections?
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