Hi, all. Wishing those of you with kids going back in person the best of luck. D19 is at Parsons at the New School, which is going all-remote for at least the first semester. (Interesting that NYU, right nearby, has gone a different direction.) So, we’ve got her here at home for at least a few more months, which has been nice. She wasn’t able to find a job this summer, but she planted an herb garden on our small back porch and has been exercising and video-chatting with friends. She has just applied to be a poll worker in a neighboring town in November, which I hope she’ll get. Would be her first paid employment ever – she doesn’t like kids enough to babysit (although she has done a bit of volunteer work with them), and what would have been her first potential years for an after-school or summer job were spent in a country where she wasn’t fluent in the local language.
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Phew so, D19 is halfway through quarantine today. It’s mostly been going well other than some (very well publicized) snafus with food/food delivery initially but that’s been sorted out and she says the food is good now. First results from the initial Covid tests have shown a tiny positivity rate. Some students have been suspended for breaking the quarantine rules. So all seems on track so far. They have a pile of rules for in person classes and building usage so still wary but hopeful.
I wasn’t in nyc very long to drop her off but reports of the city’s death seem greatly exaggerated to me, not least because we still got caught in traffic! Of course it’s not “normal” but it’s far from dead. Museums are reopening with limited capacity later this month as are gyms, so that’s also looking positive. She took her skateboard as a fun activity one can socially distance at (her & her hometown friends started over the summer for that reason) and I believe she’s been in contact with other skaters there for after quarantine.
@SJ2727 my girls decided to start skateboarding this summer too. They figured anything that can be done outdoors is good to try. My D19 started at a new gymnastics gym yesterday, which is huge for her. It’s her exercise and her happy place and just something really important to her, and she’d been out for about 25 weeks. She was happy to get started back a few weeks before school starts because she’s expecting lots of aches and pains at first. School doesn’t start until September 8th for her, so still a little while to go. Our internet here in our new place seems to be good, so hopefully college home has a smooth launch of the semester.
Checking back in after a long time off CC. S19 did spring remote off in the West with friends from Dartmouth. Then had a job back in Hanover over the summer and lived with friends. So he’s has a social (in a small group) 6 months even in the pandemic. He decided that he didn’t want to do another quarter online however and is taking fall off. He leaves tomorrow to drive cross-country. His 3rd time driving all the way across the country in 6 months! He didn’t manage to find a job for fall quarter; he applied for a bunch of things but didn’t get any. He seems to be feeling a bit uncertain going into fall, and it is difficult for me to not be a firehose of constant advice. Sometimes help is not helpful and I feel this is one of those times.
Dartmouth plans to bring half the students back and was all set to go…and then hit the pause button. They still have not announced housing assignments and arrival slots; not that it affects S19 as his year was assigned remote for fall and his decided to take fall off. But still much anxiousness by the new freshman who are still waiting to hear.
So, S19 quarantining in apartment. Roommate is positive, plus friend he visited for 10 minutes over weekend positive. Fortunately, another roommate had it this summer, and he is on food duty. Honestly, the baked flounder in some kind of tomato sauce he cooked last night looked good!
No symptoms, not planning to get tested unless he develops any. (Thank you so much CDC - not!!)
Oh wow. Hang in there. Hope you and he are not too stressed out. My D and I had to quarantine in our house this summer due to contact w a positive friend. Days were racing by all summer…until we had to quarantine and then they crawled.
@SammoJ Hope all is well with your son!
@zipstermom Thanks! After (relatively short) exposures on Aug 21 and Aug 22 to people who both tested positive, S19 quarantined. No symptoms. He decided to get tested last Friday then again yesterday, both negative, so tomorrow he is returning to the “new normal” - going to his F2F class, grocery shopping, etc., being more diligent with mask use. Not a full 14 day quarantine, but at 11 days out, probably good.
He now knows several people on campus (UofSC) who have tested positive. All either asymptomatic or minor symptoms - one girl had a fever for a day. The roommate who tested positive isolated in his bedroom for a couple days then drove home to finish out 14 days.
D19 is back on campus. Was tested, stayed in isolation in her room until the test cam back negative. Is now allowed out, but until the second test, social distances + masks are required out side the room (unless eating or running). So far, I think that all returning students have been tested, and there was only one positive case. So that students is in isolation, as are two students who were in contact with them.
Students who arrived by airplane or from counties with high levels of COVID are staying in their rooms until the second test come back negative.
If the students remain negative for the second test, they will be able to continue on campus quarantine. The earliest arrivals (residential staff, etc) have already tested twice, and all are negative. Students are not permitted off campus at least until mid September, and the few students who live off of campus are not allowed anywhere else in town except their residence. Basically they’re only allowed residence - car/route to campus - campus.
We’ll see how it works. So far, so good.
In any case, D19 is really happy.
They had a quarantine “dance party”, meaning that everybody opened their door, but stayed in their room. One room played music, and everybody danced inside their room (staying away from their doors).
Right - D19 had her first day of lectures today (I say ‘had‘ as she only had one, in the morning) and is out of quarantine and enjoying being outside!!
They have had a very low prevalence during all the initial testing - let’s hope the ongoing testing and monitoring keep it that way. NY’s general low prevalence and still closed bars etc should help. Crossing fingers …
So D has been spending some of her free time at the animal shelter playing with the dogs. We lost ours on Memorial Day and she spent the summer looking online for a new one and H would never agree. A week ago, on her birthday, she met one that is a lot like our old one. H suddenly on board but we were told our app wasn’t chosen. (H said- did you tell them it’s my 50th birthday though?) However, the first people didn’t take her so we’re picking her up on Friday! D is going to go play with her again today.
D applied for a job at the shelter in July and interviews will be this month. At this point they certainly know who she is…
@bjscheel - here’s to your daughter receiving many years of joy from her new beloved pet, and a successful interview and employment at the shelter.
Details of the ongoing testing program have been announced, and it’s more comprehensive than originally indicated. Students in dorms and certain others (example in clinical settings) will be tested weekly, and students living off campus and faculty/staff will be tested every second week. (This is in addition to the daily screening for those using campus buildings.) Pretty happy with that… not sure there’s much more they can do testing-wise, though they have said frequencies subject to change.
So Midd has just finished its day 7 tests for all students, and, of 2,000 students, two are positive, one who was found to be positive on arrival, and one who was negative on arrival, but discovered that they had been exposed the week before, and was positive on a second test. Both are isolated and asymptomatic, and all contacts are quarantined. A 0.1% positive rate and 100% contact tracing is not bad at all.
They start classes on Tuesday, and are all confined to campus until the 15th with masks on at all times while outside their rooms (except when eating and things like brushing teeth). If nothing new happens, on the 15th they are moving to Phase II and some restrictions will be relaxed. Based on the results of the testing and student behavior so far, it seems that they will be able to move to Phase II on schedule.
One of the advantages that Midd has compared to, say, Notre Dame, is that local bars and cafes do not want students around, and are therefore quite happy to report students who are seen violating the quarantine, and to ban the students from bars and coffee shops. T
D19 started her all-remote semester last week and is enjoying it so far. In her marketing class, the professor liked her first assignment so much that he sent it to the rest of the class with an “everybody read this!” message, which D19 was really proud about. She’s continuing her regular exercise program and her vegetarian cooking (which has morphed into mainly vegan), but she doesn’t leave the house much. We moved to this town a year ago, so unlike S22 who had school, she has no local friends. And she’s pretty Covid skittish, so happy to stick to home. Still hasn’t heard about her poll-worker application, but I’m sure they’re eager to hire, so hopefully it’ll come through soon.
Hi everyone! I’m checking in from a long time away from CC. I got out of the habit of checking this summer and kept putting off coming back because I knew it would take forever to catch up!
It was move to read the last several months of posts to see how all of the kids are doing. D19 had a good but boring summer at home. She took one online summer class that she really enjoyed (focused on the music industry and how they are dealing with the current situation, loss of income, etc especially in the New Orleans area) and she clicked with the professor which is always a good thing especially for a quieter student.
She also worked in an office for a friend of mine for about 5 weeks which was her first time experiencing a 9-5 office type job. It was basically research and data compilation, kind of mindlessly searching the internet much of the time, but she got paid well and learned something new so that was great.
Tulane started back up a week earlier than planned, they are doing the August- Thanksgiving schedule then home until January. All students had to get there 48 hours ahead of their move in time slots to get tested through the school. Once they got their negative result they got a wristband showing they were allowed on campus.
Campus looks very different- most green spaces are now filled with giant white tents that are being used as remote classrooms and dining areas. Some classes are in person, some hybrid and some online. D had all listed as in person but some professors have given then the choice to do them online so she is doing a mix.
The original plan was test every student once a week but that quickly changed to twice a week. D will not have to do that though because she tested positive one week into school. She was pretty shocked, she had no symptoms and was being very careful. Some of her suite mates (8 of them- 4 regular double dorm rooms connecting to one big shared bathroom) were not being as careful and she was the only one to test positive. So after spending all Sunday running to Target to get hurricane supplies she got a call at 5:30pm telling her they all had to quarantine.
Luckily for her she never had one symptom and because she was positive only had to isolate for 10 days. Her roommates had to quarantine for 14 days because they were negative! They all went to a hotel with a kitchenette and D went to the dreaded quarantine dorm.
Little by little her friends started to feel sick and in the end 5 out of the 8 of the group tested positive. They are all back in the dorms now and D will be safe from having to do that again until after she goes back in January (fingers crossed they make it that long.)
Sorry for the very long update, I have to make sure I don’t go away from CC that long again.
^ The exposure protocols can seem very confusing but there is method behind that madness. UChicago’s linked below; most if not all the schools will have something like this:
https://uchicago.app.box.com/s/osmchf84e34uh2v4sqm03s4skfsxc85o
wow. its amazing that some dont get sick at all and others do. But at least she has “gotten it over with” for now. There are many different thoughts about getting it again, but I would think they are safe for about 2 months at least
@momtogkc , that’s interesting that now that she has tested positive, she will be exempt from the ongoing testing for a few months? I’m glad for her, and a little surprised…I think this is the first I’ve seen of an entity using past-positive test results in their protocols. I wonder if that means that if she is a close contact that she won’t have to quarantine in the future? Just curious…on a broad spectrum it would be so great if we had actionable information about reinfection!