Has any school said how they are going to handle if a roommate (in a standard double dorm) gets ill with covid? Will the other occupant of the room also have to quarantine?
Everyone who has been in close contact with the infected will have to quarantine, the infected has to isolate. Contact tracers try to determine the people who have been in close contact with the infected. CDC definition of close contact (many roommates will likely be considered a close contact):
[quote]
For COVID-19, a close contact is defined as any individual who was within 6 feet of an infected person for at least 15 minutes starting from 2 days before illness onset (or, for asymptomatic patients, 2 days prior to positive specimen collection) until the time the patient is isolated.]/quote]
I expect most state health departments will follow these CDC guidelines.
^^No school has released any such details that I’m aware of, but I’d think schools would have to quarantine roommates of infected at the minimum.
@ChemAM wrote:
I’ll cop to that.
The handful of urban universities that try to strike a balance between being Big Research and Little LAC are the most vulnerable during a time of crisis and this may the REAL reason they are being so “weaseley” about their intentions.
During normal times the draw is the combination of college life and the gratification of having a lot of eating, drinking and window- shopping within a few short steps of your dorm which is probably located somewhere behind an eight-foot high gate.
Close the gates, take away half the college activities - and, you’ve got a prison.
@Mwfan1921 And I agree that needs to happen but what happens if Susie gets covid right before Sally has a group project due or an exam? How are schools going to handle students being forced to quarantine (for how long? a few days? two weeks?) and grading?
Clearly, there must be a plan, right?
My DD school just switched to block scheduling (think quarters) instead of semesters and I really wonder if a student has to quarantine how in the world they will catch up if classes are only 8 weeks long? If they can’t how will dropping a course (or likely more than one) impact financial aid and scholarships?
Don’t many of these types of schools have a significant proportion of students living off campus though?
Even the chances of a roommate getting the virus is less than 20%. I’m going to go out on a limb here and say roommates should not be quarantined. They should continue to take their temperature and maybe get rapid tested for a certain number of days in a row (hopefully rapid tests will be a thing). I only know two people personally with the virus. They both had it early in March and had positive tests. Both recovered at home with spouses and kids at home and no one else in those families got the virus. This was early on and they weren’t doing any distancing at all at home until they were diagnosed. Both just thought they had pneumonia. So there were many, many days there where they were contagious and no one else got sick.
Here’s a report saying that something like 16% of family members contract the virus when one is sick.
https://www.contagionlive.com/news/spouses-adults-covid-19-infection-household-member
Yes, schools need a plan for that. I haven’t heard any school say that classes will be in person only, meaning all classes will also be available remotely, either live or taped. Many, maybe most international students will be taking all classes remote at this point.
Length of quarantine will depend on access to accurate testing, and where the science is regarding letting someone out of quarantine based on a negative test. Right now the time frame is 14 days.
IMO the greatest weakness of 7-8 week class or ‘modules’ is a situation where a student gets sick (worse than quarantine), it’s hard to catch up no matter the reason why one is sick.
^^70-75% of all infections occur within families, in all studies across all countries.
Ok but it’s not some 100% chance of a family member contracting the virus. And family members are likely closer to each other physically than a roommate. I know I’ll be in the minority on this one but I think quarantining fewer kids is better. 14 days right now is a long time for someone who isn’t positive and likely (80 percent likely?) to not catch the virus from their roommate.
Of course there’s no certainty of infection. However, living with an infected, whether as a family member or a roommate, is the most likely way to get infected. No test can detect an infection in the first couple of days. Also, according to the leading German virologist Christian Drosten, 7-day quarantine is sufficient in almost all cases if done right.
I wish my sons school would release its schedule. He has just received an opportunity to move into an off campus apartment. The price would be about the same as the dorm but he would have a single room, would be able to prepare his own food, and there is more freedom to make your own decisions in the event things get bad again. Sounds like an easy decision. But, the problem is that the lease starts about four days before the scheduled start of classes. But with so many schools changing their schedules, we don’t know if he should take it or not. If they move everything forward a week or two like some other schools have done, he’s in a bind. And they want a decision by Monday or they’ll move onto the next person on the list.
I don’t know why I didn’t consider it before, but AlmostThere2018’s post made me concerned about on-campus online courses while living in a double. If the school adopts a back to campus with a half in-person / half remote format, how well will it work if both roommates have an online course at the same time? What if both their classes require discussion and participation? Yes, there are lounges and library study rooms, but not enough for everyone to spread out during the popular time slots between 9:30 and 1:30.
I think initially the plan would be to quarantine roommates. The colleges are setting up classes to have online instruction for these type of cases so they will be fine after 10-14 days and then will be immune for the rest of the school year. These young kids will survive and they will have company, their roommate. I really think that most colleges, especially ones where the majority of students will be living on campus, will be doing a great job of testing, taking precautions, and isolating the campus from the rest of the town that there will be very few actual infected students and faculty on campus to spread the virus.
Larger campuses like UT-Austin or urban campuses like NYU might have a more difficult time controlling the spread. I would expect Bowdoin to fare well once students are back on campus as they have a small student body, is located in a small town and they have lots of money to take all necessary precautions one would need to limit the impact of this illness.
Most kids can wear headphones/airpods when listening to a class.
I wonder if any online only classes will be able to require discussion and participation? Seems no matter where the student was listening in, that would be bothersome to others, unless they were the only one in a room…and I agree there aren’t enough spaces like that for all students taking online classes at any point in time.
Bruni again gives us a lot to ponder about the fate of colleges…
I have a child who is rising senior at a UC. This past quarter, he had two classes that required cameras on, discussion, small group break out sessions, etc. - all online.
On the last Bowdoin townhall they made it sound like some classes will be online and some not. Kids would sign up for two of each and know ahead of time which classes are which. I know this is not a final decision but it’s different than all classes being available online. I did write to the committees to say that the full semester plan is better in that case and not the Beloit model. If some classes are in person only and there’s a chance kids would be quarantined, you can’t have seven week mini semesters.
Don’t know if they will keep with this option but they can pull it off only because they’ve pushed off registration, worked with faculty on which classes can be online and which in person and who is willing to be on campus. Also gives them a chance to make sure that classes needed for juniors and seniors in their majors could be planned online so those kids can make sure to take what they need.
S19’s math prof told the kids she submitted the classes she felt could work best online and the ones she thought needed to be in person so I know this isn’t just talk from the committee. She even asked their opinions. Super complicated to figure out. Not surprised that they moved their decision date out to July 1. Maybe other small schools are considering this model too.
As a college instructor, my understanding is that those of us doing in-person teaching are to prepare online content as well so that anyone placed in quarantine is able to keep up. One of the minor concerns I have is that if I am offering an online version as well, will any students actually come to the in-person lectures? Hopefully someone will come.
I think they will come to the in person lectures, because what else are they going to do? Not like they will be able to party and run around places. Those that have in person class will likely cherish that.
GW is once again playing with the students. Apparently there are professors and adjuncts that have already stated they are not coming back and classes are being cancelled. BUT they are not telling the students. The only way to find out is to log in and see that your class was cancelled. No email or anything. And some of these classes are needed graduation for the Seniors. If I thought the Spring would be better I would have my child take a gap semester. She is suppose to graduate in December and 3 of her classes are absolutely necessary. Online or in person. But cancelled ?