I guess my question is where you would go, if this (or, something close to it) became the new normal? There is already talk that COVID-19 will likely become a “seasonal respiratory ailment” along with the flu?
Without getting into the debate about which is right/wrong, there is a spectrum of ways various campuses are handling C19. I agree C19 is likely going to be around for years and maybe decades, and I think it’s safe to assume that how one campus responds to C19 in year 2 is a good indicator for how it will respond in year 4.
It is very valuable for families to know which schools are very strict and which schools are more laid back. It doesn’t matter whether you or I feel one approach is right and another approach is wrong. I want my child to attend a campus that makes her/him feel most comfortable. For some families that will be a more strict approach like Brown, and for other families that will be a less strict approach.
Knowledge is empowering. I imagine some families will read about Brown’s approach and feel great about applying. And there will be other families who will be less enthused about Brown’s approach and look elsewhere. I see nothing wrong with either family’s choice. What would be a mistake is to enroll at a campus expecting one response and being confronted with the complete opposite. Threads like this one help keep everyone more informed and make better decisions for their personal preferences. 
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For those who are trying to decide if Brown approach to C19 is the right one for their family, another public information you can use to help your family decide is Dr. Ashish Jha on twitter. He is the Dean of Public Health at Brown. He provides additional input (via emails to parents and students, which you wouldn’t have access to if you weren’t already part of the Brown community) to explain Brown’s decisions on why they choose or choose not to follow a path.
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So, what’s the bottom line here? The tension between colleges located in blue states and their ardently recruited, often in the name of geographic diversity, red state students has been there from the earliest days of the pandemic. And, it doesn’t seem to have diminished. Do red state students just create their own set of elite colleges with looser COVID/flu season practices, closer to home?
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It isn’t necessarily a red/blue state divide at all. Colleges located very close to each other in Boston had radically different approaches. Similarly, in Texas, Rice is not the same as UT. It is more school-specific.
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Actually, as covid becomes endemic, I think school policies will become more similar everywhere. Students and staff will be mostly vaxxed, maybe wear masks inside, and just live with the occasional outbreak without resorting to drastic measures anywhere.
For most, last year’s shutdown was neither necessary nor sustainable.
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My daughter is a junior, starting to create her college list and I cannot imagine sending her off to a different state to a school under strict COVID rules. If I’ve learned anything in the last two years is to be more adaptive and that our kids have been through a lot! Our primary focus will be to find somewhere where she can thrive academically and socially. The transition is difficult enough. I also don’t want a free for all. We’ll be researching schools that mandate vaccination but don’t have policies that are isolating and that have mostly in person classes. It doesn’t have to be an ivy. It doesn’t have to be whatever pre-COVID ideas we had.
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I have a kid at UVA. At this point their restrictions are pretty much non-existent. They are having a terrific experience this year. Yes kids are getting covid but I haven’t heard of anyone getting very sick. They are all vaccinated. I have a friend with a kid at Lehigh with a similar situation as UVA. My D22 is now considering applying ED to Brown and I have real concerns about the quality of life for these kids with all these restrictions. It’s definitely a consideration. We will be living with Covid for a long time. Many of the restrictions discussed here seem draconian and I fear that they will have a lasting impact on these students. Make sure everyone is vaccinated and try to move on with life as best you can.
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Brown just lifted the restriction on group gatherings. I think the only current restriction is wearing masks indoors.
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That is correct. No covid restrictions anymore, masks are worn inside everywhere I’ve been. in RI so it’s not really different on campus vs. off campus.
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Hurray for College Confidential! 
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I said from the start that it made sense to start draconian and then lift restrictions once everyone was settled on campus. Students come from all over. I think Brown’s approach may end up giving more freedom to students than schools that start off loosely and then have to clamp down.
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Being Vaccinated is really important.
However, positivity rate peaked at almost 5% in early September and is still over 1% now, and it’s 3.2% for faculty and staff.
There were 323 cases for students, and 268 cases for faculty so far this year.
According to their dashboard, there are 69 people hospitalized right now, and the UVA hospital is seeing up to 13 new cases a day. However, some of these may not be UVA faculty or staff.
Even if mortality rate is less than 1%, with those numbers, students, or, more likely, faculty and staff, may start dying.
https://coronavirus.virginia.edu/covid-tracker
Moreover, according to the UVA website, masks are required:
I would just like to highlight I was the first of 5 posters to use the term “draconian” and thank my wife for the “word of the day” calendar she gives me every year. I don’t mean to be supercilious but I think it is paying off😀
My most important observation is OP hasn’t returned for 3 days. I hope and suspect she is off enjoying Brown. Great job OP!
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So what’s your point? Live like a hermit in a cave and stay safe? That’s an option and personal choice, but I’m not sending my kid to a college where they will be compelled to live in isolation. People will get sick. Everyone has to make educated decisions based on their own risk tolerance and live with the consequences. That’s living life.
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One additional item to consider – not just the freedom/restrictions of everyday life, but the protocol if someone either gets ill or tests positive. A 10-day isolation or quarantine is usually required. Weight the certainty of a 10-day isolation against the likelihood of actually testing positive or getting sick – which is probably more likely at a more open campus vs one that responds to upticks with (reasonable) restrictions.
I personally think a somewhat more cautious campus environment which keeps positive tests and actual illness low is better than having a somewhat more open campus where more kids get sick and/or test positive and then have to completely isolate for 10 days.
Just food for thought as I have kids at both environments.
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Specific to Brown they moved to a trimester calendar to allow students to have singles and have less disruption in their Brown experiences. This effort will hopefully allow the class of 2024 to be on campus for 4 uninterrupted semesters in sequence and allowed the students in the class of 2023 not to be forced off campus for anything beyond the truncated spring semester when Covid broke out. This is unique to the Ivies.
I can also say from first hand experience that the Brown community was extremely supportive and responsible for students who got ill.
Brown has undeniably leaned towards a safe and consequently more restrictive approach but they have done so trying to preserve the students experience and safety in a state where a lot of people were ill.
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My point is that you are not the person who is responsible for the health and safety of the students and staff. It is extremely easy for you to say “let students have more freedom”, since you will not be held responsible for people who die or who suffer from long-term health problems.
You have a very limited set of considerations - you want a more pleasant undergraduate experience for yourself. You are not responsible for anybody else, and you will not have to pay the price if you are wrong.
It would really help you understand the decisions of the administration if you started thinking of the considerations that go into protecting the health and lives of thousands of people who are living and working in a relatively small and crowded area.
Think not only of your group of friends who are young and believe themselves to be invincible. Think of the students who are more vulnerable. Think of the faculty and staff who are actually the ones who run the University. Everything that you get at Brown is the result of the labor and thought of thousands of people. They are almost all older and more vulnerable than you are, and the policies and actions of Brown need to take them into consideration just as much as they need to take your needs and perceived needs into consideration.
I am sorry that it sucks for you now, but when it comes to you having a better experience versus the lives and health of faculty, maintenance staff, kitchen staff, custodial staff, and others, your experience is going to be secondary.
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The quarantine isolation hotel at Clemson with no vaccine mandate, weekly testing of all, and masks sucks for these kids, 50 minutes of outdoor time a day, 10 days. But no vaccine mandate!
deleted due to misunderstanding
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