My D flew to San Fran from Philly a week ago; and we really didn’t think anything of it.
For spring break our D19 is going to Florida with a group of 15 students and 2 advisors for a university-run Habitat for Humanity trip. I’m not really too concerned with that trip health-wise or supervision-wise. Our S16 had a spring break trip planned with his girlfriend to the Canary Islands. They cancelled that earlier this week (after a hotel on the island quarantined 1,000 people after an Italian guest tested positive with the coronavirus). They couldn’t get refunds on the flights and some airbnbs so the rescheduled all for November. They are now going with plan b. They just booked a trip to LV (from Boston) and they are renting a camper van and going to the Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon, and Zion national parks. We are very happy with this plan.
Both our kids go to Bentley. Today the university sent out an announcement that all Bentley study abroad students in Italy have been asked to return to their hometowns. They are making arrangements with the partner universities for them to finish their semester online. It was the right thing to do. However I feel really bad for those kids. Our son studied abroad in Switzerland a year ago and honestly, it was the highlight of his college career.
S19 will be staying in the US over spring break - I don’t think any of the kids who live in Asia will be coming back, and he wasn’t planning to anyway. He’s thinking about maybe going to San Diego with some high school friends, but if he gets a job he’s applied for, he’ll stay on campus for that - fingers crossed on that for me. Denison sent around an update earlier this week that included a warning that kids who leave the US for break could end up being stranded and laid out what the school is doing generally - nothing about kids being called back from study abroad. My son said the students got the same email. I am pretty happy he is in Ohio, frankly, and he himself is very careful, having gone through the swine flu epidemic in Asia back in 2009 - the schools really drove home the “wash your hands” message back then and he’s been doing it habitually every since. This weekend was the indoor conference track championship, and I am crossing my fingers the outdoor season, which starts in two weeks, will not be disrupted. At the moment we are scheduled to visit Europe in late April and then fly on to the States to pick him up in early May. Everything is reserved but everything can be cancelled so I am just not going to think about it until the end of March. Beyond that, we have tickets for the Olympics in late July, but I am really wondering whether that will happen . . .
D19’s school has had two sites so far (China and Italy) affected by a virus-related shutdown, but they are providing the classes online. China was shutdown much earlier so many students who had been expecting to go there were reassigned to either the main campus or other study abroad locations. I agree with @Stuffedquahog , such a pity for this to happen in what should be a highlight of college.
S19 and I are scheduled to fly to Reno then drive up to Tahoe Saturday. Right now that’s still on - we are staying with a friend, not at a hotel, and I’m hoping that people with colds/coughs don’t feel up to skiing. No crazy about going through Atlanta airport, but we will do what we can to be protective.
More worrisome is S21’s spring break in 4 weeks - Disneyworld and Universal. At the best of times, those seem to be petri dishes, kids wiping noses then touching everything, not covering mouths when they cough. And there are quite a few international visitors there. If there has been wider spread at that point, we will reconsider, since my husband is in a high-risk group.
Both kids’ colleges have sent out similar messages about precautions and study abroad programs. S19 is currently in Florida on spring break with fraternity/sorority kids. I’m super excited he will come here on Thursday for the tail end of the week, since I haven’t seen him since winter break and this will likely be his only time home this semester. I’m a little less concerned about his travel than my D17’s. She’ll be coming through Grand Central station and then out of Laguardia on Friday.
D19 flew home Friday and said a few people on the plane were wearing masks. She also said it probably didn’t make much sense because they kept taking them off to talk, eat, etc.
It s so nice to have her home even though it is only for the weekend. Turns out this week is spring break for UF and FSU so a few high school friends were also home and she go to go out with them last night. Right now she is enjoying her bed ad is still asleep but we have plans to go to the beach and have a family dinner before she has to go to the airport tonight. She did ask if we could switch her flight to early Monday morning so she could have one more night in her own bed but we said no. Too much money to switch another are not that many direct flights from here to NO.
As for travel we are kind of on a wait and see basis I guess. We have a ton going on the next few weeks. I fly out to CO to ski this week with friends. We are all supposed to go visit D19 in March. DH and I have a trip booked to Nashville the first weekend in April. Tulane spring break is in April and D was planning on going to LA then coming home for the last few days. Hoping all of those plans can stay in place!
Does anyone remember if people were cancelling plans and stocking up on food when H1N1 was here? I feel like there’s a lot more over-reaction to this virus.
Can I say that DS being in Rochester NY makes me feel a bit safer? He comes home on Sat for Spring break, but being a kid that never leaves the house, not too worried. Also DH and I are healthy. I travel a lot for work, but no trips planned in March surprisingly, except for meeting D17 in Florida. She is planning on going to Disney before we meet up at my moms and i may ask her to reconsider that part of her Spring Break since my mom is 80
@sdl0625 Maine isn’t exactly the bastion of internationals either so I feel ok with S19 there. Of course, he’s coming home for break soon. Flying out of Portland through Baltimore. Not much to do be done about that.
I’m not stocking up on hand sanitizer or canned foods. All I’m doing is begging the kids to wash there hands as often as possible and don’t touch their faces. Not sure I’m having an effect on their habits but I’m trying.
No email alerts or program cancellations at Penn. They are facilitating early departure for students studying abroad in CDC Level 3 countries (China, South Korea, and Italy) but I don’t believe they have cancelled any programs. D19 will fly home for break this weekend as planned.
Public reaction seems overblown. Just encouraging DD to take the same precautions as for cold and flu season.
On Saturday, D19’s school sent out a message with guidelines about the coronavirus, washing hands, sharing dishes, travel, etc. They drop in a short line about a group that was requested to self-quarantine off campus due to potential coronavirus exposure.
Wait for it… Sunday, no doubt due to call/email volume, they had to better detail the nature of the exposure, the length of the campus’ exposure, the category of people impacted (no undergrads), and how closely they were working with city/state depts.
My kid, “Mom I have Comp 182 midterm. I can’t worry about anything else. I’m washing my hands.”
No messages about Coronavirus from my son’s school. I texted him yesterday “WASH YOUR HANDS” and he replied this morning saying that he has been using a lot of hand sanitizer which I’ve never seen him doing in middle school to high school years. He is flying back home for spring break in 2 weeks. I started wondering if airports are checking or going to check domestic flight passengers temperature…
Clemson just ended ALL study abroad programs and called everyone home 
Affects a couple of S19’s friends.
I have some nieces that are graduating this year and have made their decisions as well as their friends. Apparently in their large friend group they all go around to each house and buy gifts for that friend with stuff from the school they are going to and “decorate their beds”. I know this is something that once you pledge a sorority your big does, but is this something now down with HS Girlgroup friends? Or just their group. Did your D19’s do this last year?
@sdl0625 My daughters tight friend group did their graduation trip, and they exchanged small gifts, but that’s it. But we’re not hip.
@elena13 Thought of your son this AM. I hope his part of Nashville wasn’t hit.
Got back yesterday from a long-weekend trip to Austin from Boston with DW and S22. We weren’t actively worried about the coronavirus – just observed the usual precautions. D19’s school in NYC (the New School/Parsons) so far is watchfully waiting, but I don’t think it’s made any major changes yet.
On another matter, D19 received in the mail (at our home) an invitation to join the National Society for Leadership and Success, an unaccredited honor society. Looked impressive at first (and came as an official New School mailing, interestingly), but after a bit of research it seems slightly scammy. D19 says she’s heard a little bit about the society putting together meetings, but she agrees it’s not worth the $95 fee, and the meetings conflict with her class schedule anyway. Any of your kids involved with that or something similar?
@peachActuary73 - thanks so much for asking. It looks like the Vanderbilt campus was not damaged at all, as most of destruction was on the east side of the city. S is happily at the beach with a bunch of other freshmen until tomorrow. However, it’s terrible hearing about all those who lost their lives and homes near Nashville.
@Vineyarder that sounds like the one my DD was invited to, though I threw away the stuff so I’m not sure if the name matches. It came from one of her advisors. I looked into it briefly, searched it here on CC. Any time a person had started a thread on CC to ask if it’s good, the only positive reply was always a first-time poster that apparently joined to plug it, and never posted again. That didn’t look good. I decided it wasn’t worth the fee either.
@sdl0625 I’ve never heard of that! But then in rural Midwest we’re not up on everything.
DD was home Sunday afternoon- felt a little weird after her being away for 6 weeks this time. Spring break starts Friday!
And now she’s dropping the theatre minor. Working on her summer/fall scheduling, she decided she really wasn’t interested in the rest of the required classes. So now her schedule gets even easier to plan. Except I think now she has in mind to try to graduate early which is possible but makes it tight again. By the end of May she will have 55 credits.
She’s also debating getting her ears pierced for the first time! I’m checking out a few places and she’s deciding if she’s too scared. Might be doing that on spring break.